Survival Skills
by Thoughtful Constellations
Summary: (IM2) Agent Grace Marks has unique skills, and she has been assigned to watch Tony Stark 24/7 and make sure that he doesn't die. Tony just wants to plan his Expo. Grace just wants to keep him from kicking the bucket. They are strange, sarcastic, and devoted to what they do, and they begin to realize that maybe they've found what they've been missing. Tony/OC
1. Invasion

Agent Grace Marks thought that she had been thoroughly prepared for Tony Stark, but hearing about the infamous Tony Stark and dealing with the infamous Tony Stark were two different things she realized as she stood in her black SHIELD suit with Nick Fury in the middle of Tony Stark's living room under the scrutiny of Tony Stark himself.

"You know, I'm not a fan of this whole deal," Tony said blandly. "Why don't you pack up your little friend here and leave because I'm fine, and everything's being taken care of."

"What's funny is that you think I give a shit as to whether or not you're a fan of this situation, Stark. In fact, I'm laughing so hard that I'm not laughing at all," Fury retorted. Tony gave a blank look in return before turning his gaze to Grace.

"What do you think of this whole thing, Princess?" he asked, his eyes tracing her up and down. Grace acted as though she didn't catch his appraising glance and firmly held her ground. She knew all about his reputation as a playboy, and she didn't intend to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging his full body scan of her.

"Honestly, Mr. Stark, I don't want to babysit you any more than you want to be babysat," she replied evenly.

"See, even she agrees that it's babysitting!" Tony exclaimed turning back to Fury. "She doesn't even want to babysit me, and I don't think it's fair that you force her into doing something she doesn't want to do. Really, I don't want to do it either, and it's pretty rude of you to force _two _people into doing something they don't want to do, so I'm going to take this as a unanimous decision that we're not going through with this, and I'm going to go back to planning my Expo, and I'll call you guys if I feel as though I need to be babysat, ok?"

"Mr. Stark, that is not going to fly with me. Agent Marks is making sure you don't die in the next few however long she needs to be here, and she is going to be by your side 24/7. SHIELD is monitoring your house as we speak, and Agent Marks will report back to me with weekly updates. We are watching you, and there's nothing you can do about it," Fury said emphatically.

"Does she really need to follow me into the bathroom because that'll make things really awkward. Just saying." Tony held his hands up in defeat.

"I'm leaving now. Agent Marks is going to fill you in on everything. Remember: we're watching you." Fury glared at Stark before exchanging a knowing glance with Grace and exiting the mansion of Tony Stark.

Tony and Grace stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other.

Grace hadn't wanted to be assigned to the babysitting job. She had been perfectly fine at SHIELD's headquarters, training and preparing for her next mission when Nick Fury had walked in, telling her that he had a special mission for her. Some mission.

The whole reason that she was here was due to the fact that apparently, Tony Stark had been doing some extra self-destructive things recently that had attracted the attention of SHIELD, and the organization had realized that Tony, basically, was dying of palladium poisoning. So Agent Natasha Romanoff and Agent Grace Marks had been assigned to keep an eye on him. Agent Romanoff had special undercover orders, but Agent Marks was to, well, babysit him.

Fury had given her a thick file on Tony Stark. The file had been filled with all kinds of personal information, company information, and tabloid information. Everything she really needed to know about him was in the file, but nothing could have prepared her for the titanic mansion in which he resided, his artificial intelligence, or even Tony Stark himself.

Grace hadn't formed an opinion on the billionaire yet, but she was able to come to the conclusion that had she not been here on professional business to make sure that Tony didn't do anything drastic to kill himself on purpose or accident, she probably would have enjoyed his sense of humor. Grace was a snarky person herself, and she appreciated someone who could be sarcastic, a quality that had been created specifically for Stark. Yet despite all of this, she was still slightly taken aback by his direct stare and equally direct statements, opinions, and questions. He was spoiled and arrogant, she knew, and he was certainly easy on the eyes. He was also witty and bored and completely unenthused about her presence.

"So you're supposed to watch me and make sure I don't do anything bad," Tony said finally. Grace nodded. He kept staring at her. She could tell that he was sizing her up. As far as looks went, Grace knew that she wasn't anything intimidating. She was small, and she was thin. She didn't have bulging muscles to show off her strength, and she didn't look particularly aggressive. She looked passive and bored and professional, three things that Tony Stark didn't like very much in his women. Truth be told, his even stare made Grace a tad bit uncomfortable, but she forced herself to hold the eye contact. She was admittedly a competitive person, and she wasn't about to be bested in a stare contest by Tony Stark. Silence continued to pass between the two of them.

"Are you engaging me in a staring contest, Mr. Stark?" she finally asked. He appeared unphased by her question.

"I'm testing your soul," he replied.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm testing your soul. Do you know how to make a good cup of coffee?" he asked, completely taking the conversation elsewhere.

"Yes, sir, I do, but I'm not here as your assistant," Grace responded. Tony continued to blatantly stare.

"Since it looks like I'm not able to get rid of you today, we're going to go down into my workshop, and you're going to tell me what exactly your cover is supposed to be or whatever it is you're supposed to do that Fury was babbling about when he introduced your invasion into my home," he said, abruptly turning. Grace followed closely behind him down the stairs. She had never been in a mansion before, and she found the Stark mansion to be more than impressive. The house was enormous, and she had only seen the living area. There were numerous floors, rooms, and corridors that she hadn't seen yet. The most impressive part of his house was his artificial intelligence, Jarvis, who seemed to be programmed all over the entire house.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Tony entered in a code to the side of the door, and the door slid open, allowing the pair access into the famous Stark workshop. The workshop was impressive, just like everything else about the Stark mansion. It was ultra modern with high ceilings and technology that Grace would've loved to have gotten her hands on to see how they worked. Tony's famous Iron Man suits were either on a special charging stand or were hooked up in such a way that gave Grace the impression that Tony had been working on them.

Tony took a glance back at her and smirked.

"Nice to see that you've already made yourself at home. Just don't touch anything," he said. Grace had taken her seat in a work stool by a table filled with all kinds of advanced junk that went way over her head. She sat in the stool, taking in the many objects and tools on his table. She had no idea what they did, but she certainly planned on finding out. She turned to face Tony. He wasn't even looking at her. He was tinkering with some metal objects in front of him. Grace sighed, knowing that she had lost his attention already. There was much more in store for her than the file or Fury had told her.

"Mr. Stark?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm listening. Tinkering and listening," he said. Grace inwardly rolled her eyes.

"As far as the public and the media are concerned, my name is Greyson Marcussen, and I'm a world renowned engineer. I'm here as your assistant for your future suits. We must attend all public events together. It's my job since I have to monitor you 24/7, and it'll make the story believable. The media will be picking up on Greyson Marcussen's scent soon, and when they check in on me, they'll find all kinds of reliable companies who are willing to vouch for me and for my work. My cover is not to be blown, so I have a file here for you to study and memorize in case you're asked any questions about my background and previous work experience." She watched Tony work. He frowned slightly.

"Tony Stark doesn't need a workshop assistant," he remarked.

"I'm not really your assistant. The public will think I'm your assistant," Grace replied evenly.

"That's even worse," he said without taking his eyes off of the metal thing he was working on. "I'm a genius. Geniuses don't have assistants. Besides, I have Jarvis and Dummy, so I don't need the public thinking I need an assistant. Job's taken."

"You don't have a choice," she retorted. "I'm here as your assistant, and that's what the media will be told."

Tony finally looked up at her and gave her an interested look.

"Are you always this uptight and bossy? Fury trained you well," he smirked.

"I'm here on professional business, Mr. Stark. I'm supposed to be uptight and bossy." Grace smiled thinly at him.

"Look at that, you can smile. Jarvis, take note of the fact that Agent Marks can smile."

"Of course, sir," the artificial intelligence replied.

"Do you want to fight, Agent Marks?" Tony asked suddenly. He was testing her. Tony loved to push people, and he wanted to see if he could get Agent Marks to fight him. Besides, if he couldn't get away with not having her there at all, he might as well try to bug her and push her as much as he could.

"No," Grace replied. Tony stood up eagerly.

"No, Agent Marks, I think we should fight. Isn't that what SHIELD has taught you to do? Fight? Well, let's fight." He moved towards one of his suits.

"Mr. Stark, I'm not going to fight you," Grace said firmly, feeling anxious about Tony's persistence. Oh God, she thought, don't let anything happen. This is only the first day, don't let anything happen.

"Show me your skills, Agent," Tony insisted.

"Mr. Stark, my skills aren't as impressive as you think they are."

Tony stopped in his tracks and inspected her from a distance, folding his arms across his chest, halfway blocking the glow of his arc reactor from Grace's view. He tilted his head as he took the sight of her in.

"A SHIELD agent who says that she can't fight?" His eyebrows rose in confusion and disbelief.

"I didn't say that I can't fight. I said that my skills aren't as impressive as you think they are," Grace replied irritably. Tony frowned, a perplexed expression coming across his face and settling into his mouth.

"I'm a genius, and I don't understand what you're saying," he said. "Are you not a real agent or something? Do they hire agents just to babysit, and that's what you are? A baby sitting agent?"

"No. I'm not a baby sitting agent. My skills aren't like other agents'," Grace said. She gave him a blank expression, and she could see that he was still trying to read her. He chewed on the inside of his lip as he thought a little bit.

"So?" he asked.

"So what?"

"Are you going to tell me what your special skills are then?"

"Survival skills."

Tony's nose wrinkled.

"Those are skills? How are those skills?" He crossed the room and sat back down at the stool across from her, examining her as if he had misjudged her. Grace was getting tired of constantly being studied by him, and she inwardly groaned because she knew what was coming next.

"My survival instinct is much more keen than everyone else's, and it comes in handy for certain missions," she said.

"It doesn't sound like a skill," Tony said in a bored tone. "How many missions have you been on?"

"Three, sir." Grace immediately felt embarrassed, though she tried not to show it. This was what she knew had been coming. For the entirety of her time at SHIELD, she had been the butt end of jokes having to do with the fact that she didn't have "real skills." It was only after her colleagues had heard the details of the missions and the extent of what Grace could really do when pressed in a desperate situation that the jokes had been silenced. Still, it was embarrassing on paper. The other agents had been on hundreds of missions, and she had only been sent on three.

"That's not impressive," Tony replied. Grace said nothing. Tony said nothing. They stared at each other.

"I've already come up with 3,000 ways to escape this room, sir," she said after a moment had passed.

"Three thousand? I don't think that there are really 3,000 ways to escape one workshop. Especially _my_ workshop. I'm Tony Stark, Agent Marks."

"I've come up with 3,000 ways to escape your workshop. All in the what, five, ten minutes that we've been sitting here." Grace was serious. Her survival skills were so well groomed that she could walk into any room and formulate a thousand escape routes all within the first minute. She was talented. She had a strong will to survive. Tony stared at her, unsure whether or not to believe her.

"So if you're going to be following me 24/7, does that mean you're going to be sleeping in my bed? Because I wouldn't mind that at all, Agent," he changed the subject, again testing the strange agent in front of him.

"I regret to inform you that I won't be gracing your bed with my presence," she said. Tony detected some humor behind her words, and he saw a flash of amusement in her eyes. He clapped his hands and pointed at her.

"A sense of humor! I knew you had one deep down, Agent Marks. I had faith that you weren't completely boring," he said. Agent Marks smiled wryly at him.

"I don't try, sir," she replied. Tony smirked at her.

"You learn quickly." He picked up the object he had been working on earlier. "I'm going to work now. No talking."


	2. Small Talk and Food

**Before I start on Chapter 2, just wanted to send a shout out to Avengerlicious for the kind words on this fanfic! Thank you so much! =)**

* * *

Chapter 2

It was 3 A.M. by the time that Grace got to bed. Tony had insisted on working into the early hours of the morning to finish the repairs to one of his suits. In the meantime, Grace had gotten to meet Pepper Potts, Tony's personal assistant who had just been promoted to CEO but was still doing last minute personal assistant duties until Tony hired her replacement, was lovely and welcoming to Grace. Pepper had initiated conversation with Grace, asking her a few generic questions. Grace could tell that Pepper hadn't been sure if it were ok to ask anything too personal since Grace was a SHIELD agent, and Grace appreciated the extra effort on Pepper's part. Tony had given her one break of relief by taking her on a tour of the giant mansion, just so she would become acquainted with where she would be living for God knew how long.

The surveillance system that was being used to monitor Tony when Grace was sleeping had already been hooked up, and she could see into Tony's room. He had already crashed, sprawled across his bed and not even under the covers. If he left his room at any point during the night, the motion detector that had been programmed into his door would alert Grace, and she would have to track him until he went back into his room again. The job was a lot more difficult than she had planned for it to be. However difficult it may be, though, she wasn't discouraged or even overwhelmed yet. She knew that Tony was going to spend the next few weeks testing her, and she wasn't deterred by it. In fact, she welcomed it. She was determined to take any curveball he threw her way.

Grace eased in between the sheets and closed her eyes. God, she was tired. It had been a long day of simply sitting on a hard stool watching Tony work, and she was ready to go to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow would go smoothly.

* * *

Tony Stark woke up to no alarm clock. He never used one because he was at liberty to wake up at any time he wanted to. Besides, if it were really all that important, Jarvis would wake him up on time. Or Pepper. Or whoever Pepper's new replacement would be. Tony made a mental note to tell Pepper to start setting up interviews with qualified applicants.

He sat up and rubbed a hand through his dark, unruly hair, the simple motion causing it to stick up.

"Morning, Jarvis," he mumbled.

"Good morning, sir," Jarvis replied. "Agent Marks is already awake."

Shit. Tony groaned. He had forgotten all about his personal babysitter that SHIELD had so lovingly sent him. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered having a woman ordered to live with him, but he didn't want to be monitored as if he were five years old and needed a nanny to slap his hand if he did anything bad. Having her here wouldn't even be that bad if he could get a read on her. He was usually very good at telling a person's character right off the bat, but he hadn't been able to read Agent Marks at all. She had kept a cool distance from him, but he could tell that there was something not quite as SHIELD-y—for lack of a better word—about her as she tried to present.

So in order to figure her out, he was going to keep testing her and messing with her to see what he could and couldn't get away with. He stood up and quickly stretched, glancing in the mirror at himself. Briefly, he considered taking a quick shower before he got to working, but he needed to get a move on it now. A replacement element wasn't going to be discovered by a quick shower.

He went to open the door to the hallway when Jarvis stopped him.

"Sir, might I remind you that your door has a motion detector on it, and once you open the door, you will be monitored for the rest of the day," Jarvis said. Tony let out a groan.

"Right, Jarvis. Forgot about that." He paused, but then he opened the door. Quietly, he counted out loud, and by the time that he had gotten to four seconds, Agent Marks was opening her door. She rushed out into the hallway to catch Stark simply standing in the hall with his arms folded. He grinned smugly at her.

"Took you four seconds. You look like hell," he said cheerfully.

"Thank you, sir," Grace replied calmly.

"What, are you never going to crack any kind of smart remarks anymore? Was that a one time only deal?" he asked, walking down the hall without looking back at her. She followed him, noticing that he was in the same clothes that he had been wearing yesterday when she had met him.

"I'm being professional, sir," she said.

"And enough with the 'sir' business," he sighed. "If you're supposed to be my assistant, you're going to be calling me Tony."

"Alright then."

"This is where you're supposed to say that I can call you Grace."

"Ah, you remember my name."

"Ah, there's that sense of humor."

They had arrived at the kitchen, and Tony pulled a large travel mug out of the fridge and began sipping on it as Grace sat down on one of the stools placed at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Good morning, Agent Marks," Jarvis's voice alerted Grace and made her jump a little. She had forgotten about the artificial intelligence, and hearing it again startled her. Tony caught her eye, and he cracked a small smile at her.

"Good morning, Jarvis," she said after recovering from her brief shock.

"Jarvis, is my chlorophyll ready?" Tony asked.

"Yes, sir. You might want to check your blood toxicity levels this morning."

Tony shifted uncomfortably and shot a nervous glance to Grace but agreed that he would. Grace noticed that he began to guzzle the water bottle in his hand. She was observant, and she definitely picked up on that.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Don't you have something to do?" Tony shot back irritably.

"Yes, I do. My something to do is watch you and make sure you're not killing yourself, and I'm authorized to know what's in that bottle," she replied pleasantly. Tony gave her a flashing look that was full of panic and also something else that she couldn't quite read. He sighed.

"If you must know, this is the chlorophyll. It's to counteract the palladium," he said slowly in a monotone. Grace was quiet. He took another long swallow of the drink, and he set it down on the counter. Neither of them said anything. Tony pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb and sighed again. He was never stressed about his health. He had always been a healthy man, and now he was dying because of palladium poisoning, and he didn't know what to do. This was the first time in which he had never been able to find an answer for something, and Tony didn't like that he couldn't heal himself.

He glanced back up at Grace, and he saw her examining him. She sat relaxed at his island as if she had sat there many times before. It was during that moment in which he noticed her eyes. Her eyes were strange. They were a light brown, so light that they were almost amber. It was an eye color that he'd never seen before, and they were looking at him so intensely that he felt slightly uncomfortable. He was already unhappy that this SHIELD agent had to come monitor him, and the last thing he really wanted was to have her watching him like a hawk with those eyes.

Tony Stark usually took notice of women with long legs and long blonde hair who modeled and believed that the children were our future. They were the kind of women that he could sleep with once or twice and get away with not calling, and they didn't really care, and if they did, it didn't matter to him. They never made full on direct eye contact with him, and he was ok with letting things go as they were, but there was something about the strange SHIELD agent with the strange amber eyes that had been sent to watch him.

"What?" he asked her.

"Fury told me that you're one of those people that you love, or you hate. No in between," she said without taking her eyes off of him.

"And do you love me or hate me?" he asked.

"I haven't decided yet."

Tony shrugged.

"Fair enough."

* * *

After five hours working down in the workshop, Tony had called Pepper to ask if she could bring down sandwiches for Grace and himself. Grace had intently watched him all morning with no relent. For the most part, he had been able to forget that she was there, and then other times the burn of her amber glare seared straight through him to the point where he had to stop working and turn away from her.

He reached a point where he felt that he could take a break long enough to eat lunch, and he chose that time to check his blood toxicity level again. It read 28%. He cursed quietly to himself and chugged some of his chlorophyll drink. The panic began to rise in his throat, but he closed his eyes and forced his thoughts away from it. He opened his eyes and caught Grace staring again.

"For God's sake, you're going to have to get a book or something because you're starting to creep me out. Sunglasses, even," he said bluntly. She smiled.

"I've been told that before," she replied.

"Have you?"

"Yes. I like to watch people. I'm perceptive. I can read a lot about a person just by the way he moves. My sensory skills are pretty good, too. Not going to lie." Her smile became more smug at this point, and Tony thought she looked younger that way.

"So you have sensory and survival skills. Very useful," he said sarcastically.

"My sensory skills are part of my survival skills," Grace said, nonplussed. "I've gotten to be really good at reading people so I can anticipate what they're going to do next in a fight. That way I can prepare myself on the best way to survive the attack. My sensory skills also play in because I can hear, see, smell, etc. the next attack, and then I plot my way to survive that one."

"Sounds complicated."

"It is."

"So how did SHIELD recruit you to the dark side?" he asked.

"That's another story for another day," she said with a tight smile.

Clicking heels echoing down the hall signaled that Pepper was coming with their lunch. Pepper came in with a bright smile, carrying a tray containing two plates and two cups of coffee.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Stark. Good afternoon, Agent Marks," she said as she set down the tray.

"Good afternoon, Miss Potts; I was actually planning on speaking with you earlier," Tony said.

"Yes, Mr. Stark?"

"Your replacement. You can start interviewing and doing trial runs on the little lackeys that seem qualified for the position. I keep forgetting to remind you." Tony picked up his sandwich and bit into it.

"Actually, I've already been looking over applications, and there are a few that I'd love to jump on. Most of the applicants were, well, you know." Pepper gave a small grin, but Tony nodded.

"Yeah, no, I'm not about incompetence, so you can start bringing in the reliable ones. I'd like to see one tomorrow if that sounds ok."

"Sounds great. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"That will be all, Miss Potts."

Pepper exited the room, and it was just Tony and Grace again.

"Are you enjoying your stay so far?" Tony asked. He felt weird making small talk because that'd never been one of his strong points. He usually just spoke whatever was on his mind, but at this point, his main goal was to feel out Agent Marks and how she operated. So if he had to make small talk, small talk he would make.

"Yes, sir, I am." Grace's eyes found their way back on him.

"Seriously, enough with the sir. We're going to be living in close proximity for at least a week or so, and it's completely unnecessary."

"Part of the job. Formalities." Grace shrugged guiltily.

"And we also seem to keep talking over food," Tony noticed.

"Well, in order to change that, we should either talk while you work or not talk at all while we eat." Grace kept her face as serious as possible as she messed with him. Tony paused for a moment, but then he saw her smirking, and he shook his head.

"This is driving me crazy," he said. "I can't tell if you're joking or being serious."

"Also part of the job."

"But not a formality?"

"Not a formality."

"Sir, I suggest that you check your blood toxicity levels again," Jarvis spoke up. That odd expression that had haunted Tony's face earlier that morning was back again.

"I know, Jarvis," he responded. He pulled out a small device from his pocket and pricked his finger. He read the results, his mouth setting into a firm line.

"What is it?" she asked. Tony shot her an irritated look.

"Too high for my liking."

"I need exact numbers, Tony," Grace insisted.

"Fine. Twenty-nine percent," he snapped at her. He shoved the device back in his pocket and leaned back in his chair, and he chugged more of his chlorophyll.

"What are you going to do?" Grace asked. Tony propped his head on his hand, and he looked at her.

"That's a very good question to which I do not have the answer."


	3. Miss Marcussen

**Thank you to Avengerlicious for all the kind words on this story! Feel free to leave feedback, guys. What do you like? What don't you like? What do you want more of, less of?**

* * *

Chapter 3

"Rise and shine, Princess! Today marks your debut as Greyson Marcussen!" Tony eagerly burst through Grace's door, anticipating the SHIELD agent to be still asleep, and he was severely disappointed when he was greeted by the image of Grace fully awake and dressed with make up. He stood in her room staring incredulously at her. He had caught her as she was getting off the bed, ready to go chase Tony down and start the day's monitoring, and she looked just as shocked as he imagined his own face looked at that moment.

"You're already up." His voice captured his surprise and how impressed he was by her already being awake, a fact that was even more impressive considering how late that they had both been up last night. Tony had been down in the workshop running tests on different combinations of elements as replacements for the palladium until 4 A.M. Grace looked tired, but he didn't say anything because he of all people knew how annoying it was whenever someone else pointed out how tired and ill rested you looked. He noticed that she was wearing denim shorts and a loose-fitting grey v-neck shirt, and, well, she looked good dressed so casually.

"You didn't knock," she replied cautiously. It was then that Tony noticed her apprehension of him. She had clearly been startled by his invasion into her room, and she seemed to be folding in on herself. Her arms were out in front of her in a defensive position, and her face was tense. Tony instantly recognized her stance, realization dawning on him.

"I'm sorry," he immediately said. "I'll knock next time."

Her eyes flicked across his face; they had darkened into a deep brown. She slowly lowered her arms and seemed to steady herself. Her heart was racing.

_Goddammit_, she thought. Her nerves were rattling around in her head, all of them lit up and ready to go, and she needed to calm down. Grace had had enough SHIELD training to talk herself out of going into what SHIELD called "survival mode" when the situation proved to be a false alarm, i.e. the incident that had just happened. She took a deep breath and forced herself to smile. God knows she didn't want Tony to see how fine-tuned her survival skills really were when she felt that there was no way out, which technically was just another way of expressing how desperate her need to stay alive truly was.

"It's fine," she said quickly, forcing a smile onto her face. "I'm just a little jittery in the morning sometimes. Anyway, you said that my debut is coming today? What are we doing?"

She focused her gaze on Tony. His warm brown eyes were filled with concern, and she saw the wrinkle between his eyebrows deepen as he considered pushing for an explanation of what had just happened. Briefly, he struggled with whether or not to ask her what was wrong, but he made the decision not to.

One thing about Tony that Grace had picked up on was the fact that he thought he was so unreadable. She could tell that he prided himself on that self-image by the way he carried himself. He was so cocky and self-assured that he felt he could say anything to anyone, and no one would know how he truly felt.

Truth be told, all she had to do was look at his eyes, and she could almost read his thoughts. That was what she had spent the past two days doing: watching his eyes. It was fascinating to watch him work down in his lab. Whenever he thought that he was onto something, his eyes were bright. Whenever he realized that the combination of the elements wouldn't work, his eyes would darken. Checking his blood toxicity level added a whole new layer of complexity into the mix of things because it was easy for Grace to tell that he was highly frustrated and angry with himself for not being able to heal himself.

Tony's dark brown eyes were fascinating to Grace because she could read him so well. Little did she know that Tony found her eyes fascinating because he couldn't read her at all.

"Potts is bringing in a possible new personal assistant for me today just to get a feel for her, see how she works, and whatever it is that she wants to see from the new meat. So, uh, suit up, or whatever you need to do to get in the moment. Today's going to be a little different," he said with a grin.

"Alright, so what comes first?" Grace asked. Her nerves were calming down as she listened to him talk. She continued to breathe slowly and keep eye contact with him. Tony rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Who cares about what comes first? We'll take the day as what it is and see where it goes," he said. He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room as quickly as he had barged in. Grace swiftly followed him.

"I didn't know you were one for philosophy," she returned.

"I'm full of surprises, Miss Marcussen."

Tony's words were dripping with innuendo. He looked at her to see if he would receive the reaction that he had intended to provoke from her and was thoroughly disappointed when she didn't look back at him. Instead, she matched her pace with his, looking straight forward and still holding the expressionless SHIELD agent face that she had been carrying for the past 48 hours, give or take. Tony became more frustrated. He was rarely presented with challenges when it came to women, and he was slightly unsure of how to keep proceeding with Agent Marks. Well, he certainly did like a challenge.

They found their way into the kitchen where Tony grabbed his large bottle full of chlorophyll from the enormous fridge and began to drink his daily dosage of the nasty brown liquid. The search for the replacement for palladium lurked in the back of his head, but he didn't want to dwell on that. For the moment, he needed to forget about it and focus on today's events, whatever they would be. He didn't even check his blood toxicity level, purposely spiting Jarvis who had so diligently reminded him to do so earlier that morning.

As for Grace, she had definitely picked up on what Tony had been trying to do with that comment, and she was disappointed in herself for not having come up with something witty to say in response. It was difficult for her to decide what was appropriate and what wasn't in this situation. What she wanted to do was laugh and joke with him the way that he was doing with her, but she knew that she was on a job and shouldn't be doing that. If Grace Marks were anything, she was professional.

"Did you study the file I gave you yesterday?" Grace asked. Tony scoffed and looked insulted.

"Of course I did. I had the whole thing memorized in five minutes," he replied. Grace was impressed.

"Did you really?" she asked. Tony rolled his eyes at her.

"Please, are you actually going to doubt the genius who built the Iron Man suit? I'm genuinely insulted."

"Sir, Mr. Hogan is here," Jarvis announced. Tony's face lit up.

"Send him in, Jarvis," he said. He turned to Grace.

"Hogan is my driver. He's here to do some physical training with me. You know, have to keep up my physique and everything if I want to continue saving people's lives and every day chores like that," he said with a wink. Grace cracked a small grin despite herself. Tony Stark had a sense of humor.

Happy Hogan came strolling into the room with a big smile. Happy had been the personal driver to the Stark family for years, and he was now more like a family member than an employee to Tony. If Tony looked back on all the monumental moments in his life, he would be able to find Happy somewhere in the background. It was comforting having Hogan around in times like these, and that was precisely the reason why Tony had chosen today to train. Boxing would give him an outlet for all the frustration that he had been feeling, and it was just nice to see a familiar face that he knew would always be there.

"Hey, boss," Hogan said. Tony held the bottle up to Happy in a "Cheers" sort of manner.

"Ready for me to kick your ass?" he asked.

"Please, Stark, you know I have you beat," Hogan scoffed. He took notice of the unfamiliar brunette standing by the counter, and he shot Tony a look. The look was discreet, but it asked a thousand different questions. Hogan and Tony had known each other long enough so that they could easily decode each other's glances. Tony grinned.

"As if you'd ever beat me. Oh, uh, Happy, this is Greyson Marcussen. She's a fellow engineer, and she's here to assist me with the completion of my next suit," he said nonchalantly. Happy walked over and shook Grace's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Marcussen," he said. Grace laughed easily and shook her head in protest.

"Please, call me Greyson. I'm not very big into formalities," she said. Tony picked up on her pointed words—words that she had contradicted just yesterday— that he knew had been directed towards him, and he smirked. He saw how easy and open she was with Happy. She was smiling widely, fitting in with ease.

"And you must call me Happy," Happy replied. "Have you ever seen Tony box before? I taught him how, and now he thinks that he's better than me."

"Um, do you forget who I am?" Tony asked with a smile. "I mean, I don't fight bad guys for a living or anything. They're not part of my every day life." He shrugged, and Happy laughed.

"I haven't seen him box, but it doesn't surprise me that he thinks he's better," Grace said with that same easy smile. Tony took note of how relaxed she looked when she smiled and knew that he wanted to see more of it. That was the thing about Grace being a SHIELD agent: he wasn't sure when she was being real and when she was using a cover. It was so damn hard to pick up on anything about her that it just about drove him crazy. First, he couldn't figure out how to save his ass from the device that he'd made to save his ass in the first place. Now he couldn't figure out his own babysitter.

"Yeah, Stark's a tough one. Hey, Tony, I'm gonna head on to the exercise room, and I'm gonna get changed, ok?" Happy asked. Tony nodded.

"Yeah, I'll see you up there shortly to teach you the basics," he said. Happy gave him the finger and then turned and left the room, whistling as he left.

"He seems nice," Grace said when he was completely gone from the room.

"So what's this all about?" Tony asked as he crossed his arms across his chest. Grace frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Tony gestured towards the area where Happy had exited.

"I can barely get you to crack a smile for me, and then Happy Hogan walks in, and you start laughing and smiling all over him," he said. Grace grinned.

"Are you mad because I'm not falling all over you?" she asked. Tony was taken aback by her reaction. He had expected anger and a complete shutdown from her, but instead she was smiling at him with an expression on her face that was anything but angry.

"Um, yes, I think," Tony said slowly.

"At least you're honest." Grace sighed. "Tony, I'm here to do a job, and my job is to watch you very closely because it would be very bad if you died. I also have a cover to maintain while I'm here. I promise you that I'm a shit ton of fun when I'm not being paid to make sure you stay alive. Trust me, I'm stressed about the palladium, too, because you're running out of time, and I'm not about to let you die on my watch. Are we clear?"

"No, not really." Tony shook his head. Grace smiled gently.

"Hogan's waiting." She took a few steps away from him and paused. He was still standing by the kitchen counter leaning on it.

"I can't find my way to the exercise room myself so you're going to have to come with me." She gave a little shrug. Tony smiled.

"Alright then, Miss Marcussen. To the exercise room. You can watch me beat the shit out of Hogan. Wanna make a bet? I'll bet you on it. I never lose a bet."

* * *

**The next chapter will be more familiar to you guys with more interaction from other characters. It's going to be the scene from IM2 when Tony and Happy are boxing, and Natasha Romanoff is introduced to the story. I'd originally planned on putting it in this chapter, but I didn't feel like putting in the DVD tonight to copy exact words :P**


	4. R-U-S-H-M-A-N

**Thank you so much to Avengerlicious and Peachy34 for reviewing and saying such nice things about everything so far! Sorry that this took a while to post. I had to get the DVD and stop/start to get the exact dialogue. This chapter's going to be a long one :P**

* * *

Chapter 4

Tony had been right. He didn't lose a bet, hence why an hour later Grace was $10 poorer, and Tony was $10 richer. Every single time that he and Happy had sparred, Happy wound up on the ground in minutes. After the first three times, Tony had looked over at Grace and flashed one of his infamous smirks.

Tony fought with ease and passion, two things that made him interesting to watch. He was relaxed but focused and alert to everything around him. He was enjoying himself, Grace could tell. He was putting his frustrations into the physical activity, and he was already feeling a little better with the endorphins coursing through his blood. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears.

Happy was flat on the mat within the next 30 seconds. He let out a groan and held his hands up in a T for a time out. Tony snickered and assuredly walked over to the corner of his ring where his water bottle filled with chlorophyll was waiting for him. He took long swigs of it, ignoring the gross taste of the drink. On a high from the endorphins, he silently challenged the palladium to do its worst. He knew that it was only a matter of time before it would affect his strength, but he hadn't noticed anything wrong with him when he'd been fighting. He could take it, he reasoned to himself.

"Come on, Stark. I'm getting cold," Happy said, appearing unfazed from his latest defeat. He didn't give up easily; Grace had it to give it to him for that one.

Tony pulled the hood of his black hoodie up over his head and held up his gloves. They began sparring, and about two minutes into it, Pepper walked in. Every time Grace saw her, Pepper was poised and carried herself with a calm confidence that could only ooze from a professional who was good at her job, a description that fit Pepper Potts to a tee. Tony had picked a good replacement as his CEO, Grace thought.

"Come on, bring it in," Tony taunted Hogan and then backed up further to the outside of the ring.

"The notary's here! Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?" Pepper asked, calling out to Stark so he could hear over the thudding boxing gloves. Tony advanced forward and took several punches at Hogan's gloves.

"I'm on happy time," he called back. Pepper rolled her eyes and crossed to where Grace sat on the couch.

"I'm sorry you have to put up with this," she said with a teasing smile.

"At least it's entertaining. Hogan doesn't take no for an answer," Grace replied smiling back at the soon-to-be CEO. Happy took a swing at Tony, but Tony ducked before coming back up and knocking Happy in the nose. Hogan let out a groan while Tony danced back a bit.

"Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all.

"What the hell was that?" Happy exclaimed. His face was a sweaty mixture of surprise, pain, and irritation. This was the first time during the whole sparring session that he had looked annoyed with Tony.

"It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for…" Tony paused sarcastically and pretended to think, "three weeks now."

His sweaty bangs were stuck to his forehead, and he was drenched in sweat. The physical activity had caused his already dark brown eyes to darken to an even richer brown that was closer to black. His eyes stood out dramatically against his skin. Grace made a mental note to mention the paleness of Tony's skin as possible symptoms of palladium poisoning to Fury whenever she gave her weekly report.

"It's called dirty boxing. There's nothing new about it," Hogan scoffed back.

"They have this argument every time," Pepper murmured out of the side of her mouth to Grace.

"All right, put them up. Come on," Tony challenged, and they were back at it again.

Suddenly, in walked a familiar figure in a pants suit and long red hair that Grace was very acquainted with: Agent Natasha Romanoff.

When SHIELD had decided to send Agents Marks and Romanoff to keep an eye on Tony, they had decided that it would be more useful to have one undercover agent for everyone, including Tony, and another agent that Tony knew was an agent. It would distract him even more from Agent Romanoff's presence, and he would be more likely to focus and stay on track with Agent Marks breathing down his neck. Romanoff was used to working undercover, and she preferred it, so she had been assigned the task of assessing Tony Stark, and Marks was going to monitor the self-destructive billionaire.

Grace didn't bat an eye at Natasha's entrance, and Natasha didn't take any notice of Grace in return. Grace found the situation funny because she and Natasha knew each other quite well, but by looking at them in this room, no one would ever have been able to guess that they were as close as they really were. She thought back on all the times that she and Natasha had helped each other train, not unlike what Tony and Happy were doing this very second. Yes, Grace thought, she and Romanoff had a long, detailed history together.

Hogan instantly stopped boxing when Natasha walked in the room, mesmerized by the red head. Tony, curious as to what had distracted his boxing partner, turned his head and saw precisely what had caused Hogan to drop all ideas of the boxing match that he had been so determined to win just seconds before.

Grace was amused watching their reactions. Agent Romanoff was a beautiful woman, and she knew it. She dressed in ways that flattered herself in order to get herself noticed; it was one of the traits that SHIELD had helped her develop when she was in training with them several years ago. Her beauty came in handy for manipulation, to make the right men pay attention to her and want to spend time alone with her. These men were usually dangerous criminals that SHIELD had targeted, and Romanoff was assigned to either pump them for information, something that was easy for the redheaded agent, or to take them out, another task that was just as easy for her. Natasha Romanoff took command when she entered the room, just as she did then.

Natasha made significant eye contact with Tony, who was definitely taking in the sight of the beautiful agent, and then crossed to Pepper. Pepper had stood up when Natasha entered the room, patiently waiting for Tony to stop sparring and to sign the papers that she needed.

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company," she said, the humor playing out in her words.

Natasha held out a file and opened it, holding it so Pepper could sign.

"I need you to initial each box," she said pleasantly. Her voice was light and sweet. She was every bit as professional as Pepper. Grace wasn't surprised; Agent Romanoff was one of SHIELD's top agents for a reason, and it wasn't because she couldn't take on any role, that was for sure.

She noticed that Tony was still staring at Natasha. Normally, she was never particularly fazed by anyone who found Natasha beautiful, but this time as she watched Tony take in the sight of her colleague, she felt something strange stirring deep in her she'd never felt before when she'd watched a man appreciate Natasha's beauty.

Tony's distraction provided Hogan with the perfect opportunity to take a shot to the billionaire's head. Tony turned around to face Hogan with an irritated expression on his face. The driver smugly stared at Tony, holding up his glove to lecture him.

"Lesson One: never take your eye off—"

The rest of his lesson was cut off by Tony kicking him in the stomach. A grunt erupted from Happy's mouth as the air was pushed out of him. The kick knocked him into the corner of the ring. Grace snickered to herself, exchanging a look with Pepper.

"Like I said," Pepper sighed. "This happens every time they box."

Tony felt satisfied with his work for the day and decided that maybe it was time to take a look at those papers Pepper wanted him to sign. Happy took a few more swings at Tony, and after Tony blocked the last one, groaned in defeat.

"That's it, I'm done," he snapped. Tony walked to the edge of the ring and picked up his chlorophyll.

"What's your name, lady?" he called. His eyes didn't leave Natasha.

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." Natalie, as she had been renamed by SHIELD, stared up at Tony with her large green eyes. Her look suggested a hundred different things and nothing at all.

"Front and center. Come into the church." Tony gestured into the ring with his glove.

Grace wasn't terribly surprised by Tony's challenge. She had known him for enough days to know that he loved to challenge people. He had been doing it to her ever since she'd gotten there. He would do and say little things to push the boundaries with her. Just that morning, she remembered, he had barged into her bedroom so abruptly. He loved seeing how far he could go, and that was exactly what he was doing with Natalie.

"No, you're seriously not going to ask her…" Pepper began, looking bewildered.

"If it pleases the court, which it does," Tony replied in a dull monotone.

"It's no problem," Natalie said easily and handed the file to Pepper. Grace hoped that what was going to happen next wasn't really going to happen next. She had seen Romanoff in action thousands of times, and if Romanoff got in the ring and sparred Tony, Tony would be close to a dead man.

"I'm sorry," Pepper protested. "He's very…eccentric."

She gave Grace a panicked look.

"I don't know why he does this. He always thinks it's ok to make people uncomfortable, and it's not. It's really not," she said. Her voice betrayed her own concern, though her concern was for the wrong person.

Natalie slowly made her way to the ring, and Tony lifted one of the elastic bands on the side up for her to duck in. Natalie knew that everyone was watching her, and as she ducked under the elastic, she bent from the waist. Her rear end stuck up higher, suggesting something more than simply ducking into a ring. Her promising green eyes looked up at Tony. Tony wondered if he could die just by looking at someone.

He licked his lips and shoved his water bottle in his mouth, using the chlorophyll as an excuse to not say anything and to still keep his eyes attached to her. He wondered if Agent Marks saw how he was reacting, and he wondered what she thought about it if she did. Tony and Natalie stood only a few feet apart from each other, staring at each other with an intense blaze in each other's eyes. Grace found herself feeling extremely uncomfortable and slightly bothered by the events taking place in front of her.

"God, he's going to devour her," Pepper said under her breath. Grace hoped that the personal assistant was wrong.

Tony took his water bottle away from his mouth and let out a sigh.

"What?" he asked. He was acting as though he had caught Natalie staring at him, and he hadn't been staring at her. The act would've been easier to believe if his gaze hadn't been glued to her for the whole awkward 10 seconds that had taken place in the room while he drank.

Natalie continued to look at him with her curious expression. Tony finally tore his gaze away from her and looked at Happy.

"Can you give her a lesson?" he asked and climbed out of the ring.

"No problem," Happy said with a grin, turning to face the redhead.

Tony meandered his way over to the couch. Grace gave no reaction to what had just happened with him and Natalie. He made eye contact with her, and she simply smiled sweetly at him. _Alright then,_ he thought. _We can take this to the next level_.

"Pepper," he hissed. Pepper had sat down with the file and was looking over it.

"What?" she answered in a bored tone.

"Who is she?" Tony kept his voice low, and he sat down with a thud next to her on the couch. Pepper saw how sweaty he was, and she briefly worried about any of his sweat getting on her clothes.

"She is from legal," she replied, anxiously watching what Happy was going to do to the new possible personal assistant, "and is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that."

Pepper looked over at Tony with a sweet warning smile.

"I need a new assistant, boss," he answered innocently.

"Greyson is basically your new assistant, Tony," she said, the warning tone increasing in her voice. Tony rolled his eyes.

"She's helping me with my suits, Pep. She can't make coffee," he said. Grace cleared her throat.

"I can make very good coffee," she said. Pepper threw her hands up and smiled.

"She can make very good coffee, Tony," she said. "I've also got three excellent potential candidates. They're lined up and ready to meet you."

Grace was so busy focusing on the conversation with Tony and Pepper that she didn't see Happy trying to explain the basics of boxing to Natalie, who was already a trained fighter.

"I don't have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it's her," Tony said easily. "Don't you think it's her, Marcussen?" he asked.

"No," Grace replied.

"Exactly," Pepper chimed in. "No, it's not."

Tony wasn't listening anymore. He was watching Happy and Tony, causing Pepper and Grace to direct their attention back to the newly hired personal assistant and the driver. Happy was grinning at her, and he looked like he was going to burst with excitement. It was also obvious that he was trying to appear smooth and experienced to Natalie.

"You ever boxed before?" he asked.

"I have, yes," Natalie replied with a knowing smile on her face. Grace scoffed in her head. Natalie/Natasha had done way more than boxing.

"What, like, the Tae Bo? Booty Boot Camp? Crunch? Something like that?" Hogan playfully mocked her. He was asking for it. Grace inwardly cringed because she knew that Natalie wasn't going to go easy on him. Tony gently elbowed Pepper in the ribs and gestured for her to keep watching.

Natalie cleared her throat uncomfortably. Happy's grin widened because he took it as a confirmation. It was then that Tony decided to research, and he called out to Natalie.

"How do you spell your name, Natalie?" he asked.

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N," she answered, turning over her shoulder to answer him. Still wearing his boxing gloves, Tony clapped his hands twice and pulled up his fancy technology from his glass table. Grace was used to his doing that now. It seemed that there was technology built onto every flat surface of the house.

"What, are you gonna Google her now?" Pepper asked incredulously.

"Hmm? I thought I was ogling her," Tony replied smartly.

Information about Natalie Rushman began to come up on his glass table. His eyebrows raised.

"Oh, wow," he said. "Very, very impressive individual."

"You're so predictable, you know that?" Pepper sighed at him. Tony ignored her.

"She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin. Who speaks Latin?" he asked, suddenly lifting his head in confusion and opening his question to either Grace or Pepper.

"No one speaks Latin," Pepper responded in a bored tone without even looking at him. He glanced at Grace, and she nodded in confirmation.

"No one speaks Latin?" he asked surprised. Pepper directed her bored gaze at him.

"It's a dead language," she said.

By that point, Tony had found the pictures. Grace saw pictures of a scantily clad Natasha Romanoff. There were all kinds of pictures of Natasha in a bra and underwear, fancy dresses, lingerie, anything. Tony's eyebrows shot up even further. Grace fought the strange feeling that she'd been experiencing since Tony had first laid eyes on Natalie Rushman, instead focusing on the task at hand.

"You can read Latin, or you can write Latin, but you can't speak Latin." Pepper was still talking about the Latin, but Tony had stopped listening ages ago. His brown eyes were filled with excitement.

"Did you model in Tokyo?" he asked. "Did you, Greyson? 'Cause she modeled in Tokyo."

"Well," Pepper started, and then Tony cut her off again.

"I need her. She's got everything that I need," he said emphatically. He looked at Grace on the last part, only to be met by a smile that he couldn't decipher even if he had been the world's best code breaker. Grace felt her stomach churn, and she took deep breaths. She wasn't going to do this right now.

Natalie looked over her shoulder, clearly bored by Hogan's attempts to teach her how to box. Happy smiled at his chance and lifted his glove.

"Rule number one, never take your eye off your opponent," he said. He drew his glove back to take a swing when Natalie snapped back to him, grabbing his fist and swinging her legs around his neck, smashing him onto the mat.

"Oh, my God!" Pepper cried, immediately leaping up. Grace and Tony quickly stood as well. Natalie held Happy on the mat for a few extra seconds while he struggled, but then she stood up easily and wiped her hands on her pants as if she had simply knelt to pick something up.

"Holy shit," Grace murmured.

"Happy!" Pepper exclaimed.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Tony crowed proudly.

"I just slipped," Happy grunted out as he stood up painfully and a grimace masking his face.

"You did?" Tony asked blandly.

"Yeah," Happy came back defensively.

"Looks like a TKO to me." Tony rang the bell at the side of the ring.

"Can you stop that?" Pepper snapped. He looked back at her and shrugged.

Natalie climbed out of the ring and stood in front of Tony, scanning him with her green eyes.

"Just…I need your impression," she said intimately. Tony squinted his eyes as he thought of words.

"You have a quiet reserve. I don't know, you have an old soul," he said, reciting words that he'd said before and making them seem like he'd come up with them on the spot. Grace rubbed her forehead with her hand and sighed. Watching Tony as he tried to not die of palladium poisoning had been hard enough, and now she was going to have to watch him also try to seduce someone who was a close friend of hers.

"I meant your fingerprint," Natalie interrupted with a slight smirk.

"Right."

She held open the file for him to sign, and Pepper and Greyson crossed towards them.

"So, how are we doing?" Pepper asked, her professional smile back on.

"Great. Just wrapping up. Hey. You're the boss." He smiled as he finished his thumbprint. Pepper beamed at him. Grace usually didn't feel awkward, but now she did. She didn't have an actual reason to be a part of this moment, and she was on the outside watching something very important take place. She glanced away, looking at the walls, at anything but the transaction taking place.

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" Natalie asked.

"No," Stark said bluntly.

"Yes, that will be all, Miss Rushman," Pepper interrupted and overpowered Tony's voice. "Thank you very much."

Tony's eyes stayed on Natalie as she turned away, and they stayed on her all while she exited the room. He turned to Pepper as soon as she was gone.

"I want one," he said.

"No," Pepper responded and gave him a playful disapproving one. He turned to Grace.

"Don't you think I should have one?" he said, loading his words with as much meaning as he could. Grace paused for a moment.

"Whatever suits your needs best, Mr. Stark," she replied carefully. Tony wondered what she meant by that, and he tilted his head briefly at her before turning back to Pepper.

"See?" he said.

"No," Pepper repeated.

Tony looked off after Natalie and then back at Pepper who shook her head again and smiled. He looked back at Grace.

"Hey, you," he said. "We have work to do."


	5. Instinct

**Thank you to xxLiveLoveReadxx, a guest user, Avengerlicious, and AppoloniaAstria for reviewing and giving their positive comments! Lots of thank yous as well for everyone who's read this, ****favorited, and followed this, too! Don't worry-more movie scenes will be in the upcoming chapters, and there will be a heightened amount of romance, too ;) Rhodey will be popping up soon, too. Not sure when, but I'm trying to get him integrated! Let me know what you like, what you don't, what you want more of, and what you think there's too much of!**

* * *

Chapter 5

Tony and Grace descended into the genius's lab silently. Grace took her usual spot off in the corner, and Tony got straight to business.

"Jarvis, run a test on magnesium and sodium," he said expertly.

"Right away, sir," Jarvis replied. After Tony had received a confirmation, he swiveled his chair around to face Grace, who had pasted her impassive face back on.

"What do you think of Miss Rushman, Miss Marks?" he asked.

"She seems like a worthy candidate," Grace answered honestly. If she weren't supposed to be promoting Natalie Rushman to Tony's attention, she would've thought the same thing. The only thing that made this situation different was the fact that Natasha Romanoff _needed _to get that position as Tony's personal assistant in order to carry out what SHIELD had assigned her to do.

"You didn't seem terribly fond of her back in the room. Why?" Tony pressed casually. He knew exactly what he was doing. He had instantly picked up on Grace's hesitation back in the exercise room. Tony might have been an oblivious man when it came to certain things, but he was observant. He had taken special care to see what Grace was doing throughout the whole process of testing Natalie, and she had been particularly watchful of how he had acted with the redhead.

Grace frowned in confusion.

"I have no problem with Natalie Rushman. She's very qualified, and if you want to hire her, then that's a good idea. I doubt you'll find anyone with as much qualification," she said evenly. Her impassive mask was still plastered to her face, and she was silently thanking SHIELD for every minute of training that had made it possible for her to keep that expression.

Grace didn't know why she was feeling so reluctant about Natasha's presence around Tony. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't convince herself that the reason she was so concerned about Natasha's being there was because she wanted to be a good friend. It wasn't at all because she thought that Natasha would fall for Tony, and Tony would use her. Natasha would never do anything so reckless as to engage in a personal relationship when she was on the job; she was too smart for that. And she certainly would never do anything to ruin her solid relationship with Clint Barton, another SHIELD agent whom Natasha cared very deeply for.

Tony was clearly attracted to Natasha, and Grace was worried about the feelings that he might develop for the SHIELD agent. As she admitted this to herself in Tony's lab, she grew increasingly uncomfortable with the realization. She was never the kind of person who got caught up in romance. When she had been in college, her friends were in love with boyfriends that they'd had for six months, Grace still wouldn't talk of anything permanent with her then-college-boyfriend of three years. She had always had a level head on her shoulders, and she thought of things in a realistic mindset. She had certainly had her share of relationships, and she had loved a few of the men that she had dated long term, but she had never been one to jump into anything.

Yet here she was in Tony Stark's mansion where she had only spent about 36 hours, and she was feeling the early, metallic pangs of jealousy when Tony took notice of a beautiful woman. Grace chastised herself. She wasn't thinking rationally. She was being a stereotypical woman who was developing some semblance of feelings for Tony Stark, a well known playboy, and she hated that.

But as she stared at him, holding eye contact, she saw a softness in his face that she hadn't seen since she'd been monitoring him, and she saw the soft glow from the warmth in his eyes. At that moment, he looked like a little boy who wanted something very much and still hadn't resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to get it. A sort of tenderness had crept into his mouth, and his lips were full and almost pouty. It tugged on Grace's heart to see that expression on his face.

He still hadn't answered Grace's last comment on Natalie Rushman, instead choosing to sit in his swivel chair while Jarvis continued to run tests on the two elements to see if they would serve as a suitable replacement.

"What?" she asked. Her voice came out a little harsher than she'd intended to, and she felt guilty. His expression remained unchanged, leaving Grace unsure as to whether she wished that he would have reacted a little differently to her rough question.

"Nothing," he said. Finally, his face changed, that sad expression leaving as quickly as it had arrived. "Are you ever going to tell me how SHIELD found you?"

"Oh," Grace said uncomfortably. "It's a long story that starts a lot earlier than before SHIELD recruited me."

She prided herself on being a generally open person about her past when she wasn't in a professional setting, but no matter what the setting, she never liked talking about how SHIELD had come across her or how her survival skills had come to be. All kinds of memories came up that she would prefer stay a few layers deeper in the corners of her brain.

"We have time. Jarvis is still running that test, aren't you, Jarvis?" Tony called out.

"Yes, sir. It will take another 45 minutes to finish," Jarvis replied. Tony held his hands up. "See? I'm up for story time."

He put his feet against the leg of the table and pushed off, sending his rolling chair sailing over to where Grace sat. He leaned back in his chair and gazed at her expectantly.

"Well? I'm waiting," he said. Grace paused, taking a deep breath.

"Well," she said slowly, "I guess it begins when I was young. As long as I can remember, I've had really good self-preservation skills. You know how kids often wander behind cars without realizing that the car could back up, and they'd be killed? Or how kids will run into the street after a ball and not stop to think about how they could get hit? Well, I wasn't like that. I was always cautious. Never did anything relatively dangerous whatsoever because I was constantly assessing how I could get hurt in any situation.

"It wasn't until my freshman year of high school that it really saved me, though. I was 14, and it was in October when this senior kid walked into the school and began shooting. I was in the cafeteria, and shots were being fired all over the place. My first thought was, 'Get out of here. Stay alive.' So I did. I somehow made it out of the cafeteria with my friends falling around me left and right, and I wound up hiding in an empty classroom upstairs on the third floor with some other students. Why I ran to the third floor, I don't know. I wasn't thinking. I could hear the shots coming down the hall, and I knew he was getting closer, and everyone was crying. So I took the metal globe that was sitting on the teacher's desk, and I used it to smash the window, and I jumped."

Tony's eyebrows shot upward.

"You jumped from the third story?" he asked in disbelief. Grace nodded.

"Yeah, but the crazy part is I wasn't even all that injured. I broke my leg, but as soon as I hit the pavement, I stood back up and kept running. I didn't even feel the pain until someone had wrestled me into an ambulance."

"Holy shit."

"I guess that that was the real turning point for my survival instinct because after that, I always found escape routes out of every room that I entered. I didn't really have any issues until I went to college. In November of my freshman year—it's always freshman year—I went on an archaeological dig with my classmates to South America—"

"You went on an archaeological dig?" Tony interrupted.

"I was an archaeology major."

"Are you fucking with me?"

"No, I'm not."

Grace's look told him that she wasn't fucking with him.

"Well. Learn something new every day. Go ahead, sorry, it was shocking," he said, shrugging guiltily.

"Anyway, I was in South America, and our camp was raided by drug dealers, and we were taken prisoner. My classmates and my professor were killed within five months. I stayed alive for three years. After I got free, SHIELD had heard about me, and they'd heard about all the things I'd done to stay alive for so long, and they offered me a position with them. I've been with them ever since." Grace shrugged. "The end."

"That wasn't a happy story," Tony said, appearing to be nursing a thought somewhere deep in his brain.

"Not really," she agreed.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," he said quietly. Grace nodded, not saying anything back.

"You deserve a drink," Tony announced suddenly, and he stood up, eagerly making his way to the bar. Grace frowned. She hadn't been expecting that kind of reaction at all from him, though she couldn't say that it was a bad one. Most people usually had nothing to offer her but meaningless words of sympathy whenever they'd heard about the traumatic events in her past. Instead of offering her anything sympathetic, Tony was offering her a drink, and honestly, Grace thought that she preferred that reaction best of all.

"I'm working," she said. She knew she shouldn't drink because it wasn't professional, but Tony was already pouring the glasses, and the drinks looked so good. He brought two glasses back, handing one of them to Grace. She tentatively took it, feeling the cold glass containing the amber liquid against her hand. Tony settled back into his chair across from her and took a long swallow.

"Should you be drinking that when you have palladium poisoning?" she asked bluntly.

"Who knows, who cares. It's a short life," Tony said, gulping back another swallow before lowering it.

"Toast," he said.

"To what?" she asked. Tony's eyes blazed with mischief, and he raised his glass towards hers.

"To us," he said. The look in his eyes challenged her to say something about what he was saying they toast to, and for once, Grace didn't argue. She simply smiled and raised her own glass.

"To us," she agreed. They both took long gulps of their drinks. Grace let out a sigh of relief as she leaned back into her own chair.

"Sir, Miss Potts told me to remind you about your trip to Monaco because it appears that you still haven't packed," Jarvis suddenly said. Tony's eyes widened, and he let out a groan, sprawling out in his chair like a whiny little kid.

"Shit, I forgot about that trip," he groaned. "Jarvis, tell Miss Potts that I'll pack later."

"Of course, sir."

"Oh, yeah, how many more days until Monaco?" Grace asked after taking another sip of her drink.

"I don't know," Tony mumbled.

"Five days," Jarvis interjected.

"Five days," Tony repeated.

"Thank you, Jarvis," Grace said.

"You're welcome, Miss. Sir, Miss Potts also asked me to remind you of the Annual Memorial Hospital Ball taking place in two days."

Tony let out another loud groan.

"Did we receive an invitation?"

"Yes, sir."

"Fuck. Do I have to go, Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir. You do have to go."

Tony glared up at the ceiling. Finally, his head rolled over in Grace's direction, and he looked at her.

"Well, Princess, I hope you have something suitable to wear to a ball."


	6. Heat

**So many thank yous to all of the sweet, supportive reviews I've been receiving, specifically peachy34, Avengerlicious, and xxLiveLoveReadxx! I'm thinking about skipping straight to the ball in the next chapter; let me know your thoughts. Keep telling me what you like, what you don't, what you want more of, and what you want less of! **

* * *

Chapter 6

Three hours later, Tony was deep in the middle of his work when Natalie Rushman came down carrying a magazine. Tony was finishing repairs on his latest suit, and he was adding a special new one-time-only laser feature that he couldn't wait to try. He had been looking for the perfect test subject since he'd gotten his idea, but everything in his lab was too valuable to test it on at the moment.

Natalie walked directly in front of Tony, and he paused, his eyes following her movements. She was a beautiful woman; Tony wasn't going to pretend that she wasn't. He had always had an eye out for beautiful women, and he could practically smell one from a mile away. If he said that he weren't attracted to Natalie Rushman, he would be lying. However, even to his own surprise, Natalie wasn't quite the goal that he had set in the way of women.

Natalie walked over to Grace and held the magazine out to her.

"You're in this magazine, and I thought you'd like to see it if you haven't already," she said politely. Grace smiled widely and took the magazine from her.

"Thank you, Natalie. I haven't seen it yet," she said smoothly.

"If there's anything you or Mr. Stark need, please let me know, Miss Marcussen," Natalie replied, using Grace's cover, before turning. She glanced off to the side and made eye contact with Stark. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she gave a tiny, indifferent smile and kept walking. He could smell her perfume as she walked by. He coughed. That was something that Tony Stark hated about the majority of the women he slept with: all of them wore perfume, and he deeply loathed perfume.

"Come read this," Grace called with a smirk from across the room. Tony set down his tools and crossed to her, even taking the liberty of sitting snugly next to her on the couch that she'd now seemed to declare as her space. Grace didn't tense at the warmth of his thigh against hers, instead choosing to ignore the heat of his body.

"'Greyson Marcussen, world renowned engineer, is believed to be residing with Tony Stark as he works on his latest Iron Man suit. Earlier this week, Stark Industries released a press statement about the young female's agreement to help America's infamous hero. The press has been located outside of Stark's house in hopes of receiving a personal statement from either Stark or Marcussen, but neither has been seen leaving or arriving the Stark Mansion. There is speculation that the two will be arriving together at the Annual Memorial Hospital Ball.'" Grace laughed after she read the brief article out loud.

"What's so funny?" Tony asked.

"SHIELD moves quickly. Greyson Marcussen has only really existed for a couple of days, and here she is in the tabloids as if everyone knows who she is," she mused, more to herself than to Tony.

"Ready to give them something to talk about tomorrow?" Tony asked with a grin on his face. Grace gave him a warning look, and in the back of her mind, she wondered if she looked like Pepper whenever Pepper gave him her warning looks. She figured that giving warning looks to Tony Stark was probably something that was common amongst people who had to deal with the infamous billionaire.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked. He shrugged in a nonchalant manner.

"Nothing at all," he replied, leaning back into the couch to rest some more. Grace swore that his thigh pressed into hers more. She looked at him, and he was looking back at her, his head resting on the back of the couch, and his big dark brown eyes staring innocently.

"What?" she asked.

"Your eyes are weird," he replied bluntly.

"Excuse me?" she said. Did he actually just say that?

"Your eyes. They're the color of that sap shit that comes out of a tree and turns into a rock."

"Amber. You mean amber."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry that my eyes offend you."

"They don't. They're very nice eyes. They're also very weird. You stare a lot. Did anyone tell you that staring is rude?"

Grace rolled her eyes.

"Now you're rolling your eyes. Rolling your eyes at someone is also considered rude. Did SHIELD teach you that, or did your parents?"

"I'm not staring at you. I'm watching you."

"Staring is for rude people. Watching is for stalkers."

"I'm being paid to watch you."

"So you're a paid stalker."

Tony was continuing to stare at her with an innocent face, and she sighed out loud.

"Don't you have something you should do?" she asked.

"You never answered my question," Tony insisted.

"I forgot the question." Grace rubbed the bridge of her nose with the side of her pointer finger. Tony was pestering her because he was using another tactic to test her. He sometimes got in these moods where he would ask random questions that made no sense, and she knew that he was doing it just to bug her.

"Did SHIELD teach you that staring is acceptable, or did your parents?" he repeated. He could see the exasperation building, and he was secretly enjoying it. So he liked watching her get annoyed by his questions. He wanted to see when she would tell him to stop, or if she would continue to take it.

"SHIELD taught me how to observe people," Grace replied with no trace of annoyance. She was a tough one to crack.

"So your parents taught you that staring was rude, and you disobeyed them?" Tony asked. Grace turned to him and smiled tersely.

"No," she said.

"Hmmm she doesn't like talking about her family. Are they dead?" Tony asked. Grace wasn't surprised that he'd be so blunt. He was anything but subtle, but she couldn't help feeling a little taken off guard.

"No," she said slowly. "I haven't been in contact with them since before I was taken captive in South America."

"Why?" Tony pressed. She held that same look on her face.

"Why do we always talk about me?" she asked. Tony continued to gaze at her, his head still resting on the back of the couch.

"You're interesting," he said simply. "I'm trying to figure you out."

She held eye contact with him, surprised by his answer. His open-book eyes were genuine and sincere. The heat of his leg against hers seemed unbearable at that moment, and she wondered if it were just a trick of her mind, or if he really seemed to be physically closer to her than he had been a minute ago. She felt an odd sensation in her stomach, and she fought against it.

"Mr. Stark, I promise you that I'm nowhere near as interesting as you seem to think I am," she said slowly. He shook his head.

"Not true, Agent Marks. There's a reason you keep that look on your face," he said.

"I'm a SHIELD agent."

"That may be so, and trust me, I believe you because you've told me you're a SHIELD agent only about 90 times, but I can tell you're different. You think that you're the only one who's good at reading people, but I'm good at reading people, too. I'm not bad at it at all. You're the first person that I haven't been able to pick up too much information on, and to be honest, it's driving me crazy. You're driving me crazy." Tony's eyes held so much sincerity that Grace felt panic rise in the back of her throat. She was so out of her element here. She was in this huge mansion with this genius/superhero/billionaire/playboy, and she was feeling all kinds of strange things about this man when she had only been there three days.

Grace wished that she could find an excuse to leave and do it, but she couldn't leave Tony because she wasn't allowed to leave him by himself.

"Don't you have repairs?" she asked and cleared her throat. Tony searched her face, and frustrated and still unable to provoke a reaction from her, nodded.

"Yeah. I guess I do."

* * *

"Sir, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes is calling, "Jarvis announced. Tony looked up from his repairs and frowned. He didn't have any kind of appointment coming up with Rhodey.

"Put him through," he said. "Hello?"

"Tony, what's this about someone living in your house?" The frustrated voice of James Rhodes filled the room.

"Oh, that's Greyson Marcussen. She's assisting me, and she's a lovely young woman. In fact, it's your lucky day. You get to meet her because she is sitting in this very room right now. Say hi, Greyson," Tony said.

"Hi," Grace called out from the corner. She had to admit that she was impressed with the way that Tony and Pepper had picked up on her cover's name. Neither of them seemed to blink an eye whenever someone who was unaware of who Grace really was walked into the room, and the two of them had to switch to calling her by her alias. Pepper was a professional, and Grace had the feeling that she'd probably had to cover last minute for Tony many times in the past so she was probably nonplussed by Grace's alias. Tony, on the other hand, was careless and reckless, and yet he had picked up Greyson Marcussen easily without a second thought.

"Hi, ma'am," Rhodey replied awkwardly. "Tony, am I on speaker?"

"Why, yes. Yes, you are, Rhodey. I'm in my workshop right now, and you are on speaker while I'm working," Tony answered snarkily. Rhodey was silent, and Grace knew that he was probably counting to 10 in order to maintain some semblance of control.

"So you won't let the U.S. military assist you or find out anything about your suits, but then some woman that you've never even met before gets to help you? No offense, ma'am."

"None taken," Grace called out.

"You see, Rhodey, Greyson is a colleague, and she actually knows what she's doing. She's not a military monkey. And, hey, before you get mad, I mean that with the utmost respect. God bless our troops." Tony gave a mock salute, though it was more for Grace's benefit than Rhodey's because Rhodey obviously couldn't see him.

"Tony, I hope you know what you're doing. There's a lot of talk going on, and a lot of people are very worried about you," Rhodey said with a sigh.

"Of course I know what I'm doing. I'm Tony Stark," Tony said, scoffing. "There's no reason to be worried. I am totally and completely normal."

"That's the thing, Tony. You're never normal."

"Sure I am. Aren't I normal, Greyson?"

"I probably shouldn't answer that," Grace said diplomatically. Tony shot her a glare and flipped her the bird. She flipped it back with a sweet smile on her face.

"Your colleague can't even answer for you," Rhodey said.

"Sure she can. She's just flirting. She thinks she's flirting," Tony said. Grace's eyes widened dramatically, and she gestured at him to stop. Tony winked at her.

"Tony, don't even scare me with that."

"No reason to be scared, Rhodey. Well, I've enjoyed this little chat, but I have a lot of things that I need to do, and listening to you groan about my choices in life isn't on my to do list. Oh, hey, if you're bored, and you want to come over and see my new personal assistant, you should. She's quite a beaut, Rhodes," Tony said.

"Are you seriously talking about this right now?" Rhodes demanded.

"Yes."

"Tony…alright, if you want to do this, ok. You have shit to do. I have shit to do. I'll see you at the ball in two days. You're going, right? Tony, you _are_ going to go, aren't you?"

"Yes, Rhodey, I'm going," Tony responded in a broad monotone. "End call."

Silence filled the room.

"He seems nice," Grace said finally. Tony gave a small laugh.

"He's Rhodey."

With a brief glance up at Grace, he went back to working, feeling like things were calm and finally ok for once with Rhodey annoyed, a personal assistant right upstairs, and a pair of strange amber eyes in the corner.


	7. Comfort

**I didn't receive very much feedback as far as what y'all wanted for this chapter i.e. whether or not I should move onto the ball, so I decided not to. Don't worry: it's in the next chapter! (I promise that the romance will also be hitched up 10 notches at the ball.) This chapter is a bit longer than what I've been posting, but I hope you guys don't find it to be too boring. Thank you, Avengerlicious, for continuing to give me supportive feedback! PLEASE tell me what y'all want! I only want to keep my readers happy =)**

* * *

Chapter 7

Tony decided that it was time for him to ease into a simple routine in order to make things simpler for Grace. He saw how tired she'd looked when they had been down in his lab, and he knew that the late nights and the early mornings couldn't possibly be good for her. When he'd started to become interested in how someone other than himself slept at night, he couldn't pinpoint, but that didn't matter. He didn't want Grace wearing herself out. The ball was coming up, and he wanted her to be well rested for her public debut as Greyson Marcussen.

He'd decided to go to bed early that night for Grace's sake. As they were walking to their separate rooms, he could tell that she was ready to drop. It was only 10 P.M., and she looked exhausted. Guilty, Tony looked away from her.

"Well, good night, Stark," she said briefly, not looking at him as she turned the knob to her room.

"Wait," he said, stopping her. She paused and turned to face him. Her head was tilted to the side, causing her long brown ponytail to flick over her shoulder. Tony tried to ignore her hair and how it looked in the dimly lit hallway of his house. Instead, he focused on her weird eyes that he'd commented on earlier that day.

"Yeah?" Grace asked. She forced her eyes to focus on him, blearily gazing at him and wishing that he would just shut up for once and go to his room. It wasn't as though Grace couldn't take continuous nights with no sleep; she had survived being held captive in South America for god's sake. It was just that Tony Stark's lifestyle was overwhelming, even though all she'd really observed for the past few days had been his work in his lab. Listening to him talk and watching him work was exhausting. His mind moved a thousand miles a minute, and she was never able to understand anything of what he said when he was in full blown work mode. Her brain would never be able to move that fast.

Tony shifted uncomfortably and leaned on one arm against the wall. Even though he felt awkward doing that typically high school boy gesture, he felt strangely supported through the gesture. He wasn't used to changing up his way of life in order to accommodate someone else.

"You don't have to stay up all night—I mean, not that I'm saying you were. You just don't seem like you sleep. I'm also not saying that you look bad. You know what, who am I kidding. Yeah, I am. You look like you're knocking on the gates of hell waiting to be let in by Satan himself," he sputtered. Grace made no reaction. Silence passed between them for a few seconds. He sighed.

"We can set a time to be ready in the morning. So you can sleep. That's all I'm saying. I won't leave my room. You can sleep as long as you need to, and we can agree to meet outside. In the hall. At the agreed time," he finished awkwardly. Grace continued to look impassive, but this time she nodded.

"Ok," she said finally. 'That'd be helpful."

"I can be quite accommodating," Tony replied with a wink. Grace cracked a grin back at him.

"Nine o'clock?' she asked. Tony nodded.

"Nine o'clock," he agreed. She nodded back at him with a smile, and she turned the knob on her door.

"Good night, Grace," Tony called out, hoping that he didn't sound as awkward as he felt. She stopped again and smiled that cryptic look at him, a look that made him want to ask her what she was most afraid of in the world and what she wanted more than anything. It was the kind of facial expression that made his chest tense up and his mouth loosen.

"Good night, Tony."

She shut the door behind her, and Tony walked into his room. He closed the door, and he crossed to his bed.

"Jarvis?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Jarvis replied.

"What do you think of Agent Marks?" he asked. It was useless to ask Jarvis's advice on women, he thought, but he might as well do it.

"Agent Marks is very professional, sir," Jarvis answered.

"Do you like her?" Tony questioned.

"Compared to what I deal with on a daily basis, sir, I do like her indeed."

"You do realize that I can rewire your circuit board," Tony announced.

"I stand corrected, sir."

"Good night, Jarvis."

"Good night, sir."

* * *

Grace slept long and hard and woke up feeling the most relaxed than she had in the past few days that she'd been working at the Stark Mansion. She slowly stretched, easing herself awake before sliding out of bed and beginning her day. Within half an hour, she had quickly showered, gotten dressed, and applied her make up. Her hair was still damp, but she didn't care. She wasn't going to be out and about.

Nine o'clock came, and she was about to leave her room to meet Tony out in the hall when the motion detector attached to Tony's door alerted her, and a smart knock rapped on her door.

"Grace," Tony Stark sang out from the hallway. She opened the door, puzzled to find an energetic Tony in front of her.

"Hello?" she said, her voice coming out as more of a question than a greeting. Tony was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet he was so excited. This was the most energy that she had seen out of the flat-lined, stressed genius.

"Today's going to be different. There's not enough air in this house. We're going out. You know what that means," he announced eagerly. She frowned.

"I don't," she replied slowly.

"Follow me," Tony commanded. He walked swiftly down the halls, Grace trailing behind him completely bewildered. For the past four days he had been a slump. He'd been stressed and focused on the work in his lab, and now he was practically skipping. They took a quick detour to the kitchen, and Tony grabbed his chlorophyll. He continued to lead her out to the front of the house and then out of the front door of his house and into his driveway.

Grace stopped in her tracks when she saw one of the famous Stark mobiles, a convertible with the top down, sitting ready in the middle of the driveway. Tony casually walked to the driver's side and jumped in. He looked back at her, amused by her reaction.

"Get in, loser. We're going shopping," he called.

"Did you just use a _Mean Girls_ reference?" Grace asked.

"Do you have to question me on everything I do?" he retorted. "Come on, I made a chick flick reference. Besides, we're not really going shopping. I've always wanted to say that."

Grace smiled slowly and approached the car. She rested a hand on the handle.

"I don't have all day," Tony remarked and tapped his watch. She opened the door and got in.

* * *

The paparazzi was something that Tony had forgotten about when he had so brazenly decided to go out that morning. He wasn't a fan of the paparazzi, and he usually ignored them, but this time he was worried about Grace. Grace wasn't used to the paparazzi the way that he was. By the time he had zoomed out of his driveway, they were being tailed.

"I hope you like fast rides," he shouted over the rush of the wind in his ears.

"Yolo!" Grace shouted back.

"God, you didn't just say that."

"You made a _Mean Girls _reference. I can say yolo!"

"Two different things. I thought you were a professional."

"I am."

"How many SHIELD agents say yolo?"

"All of them. We're trained."

Tony picked up speed, and an hour later they were at Martino's, an Italian restaurant where the prices were as high as the quality of the food. He easily parked the car and swiftly moved to Grace's door to open it for her. He enjoyed the curious look in her eyes as he opened it for her, and she looked at him in surprise.

It was only assumed that every member of the staff knew who Tony Stark was and where Tony Stark liked to sit. Within seconds of entering the restaurant, Stark and Marks were seated in a remote corner with a gorgeous view presented to them. Grace perused the menu, taking in the high prices.

"You didn't tell me I'd have to sell an arm on the black market to eat here," she murmured.

"That's funny that you think you're going to pay," Stark returned blandly. "I'm taking you to lunch so it's on me."

"Why are we out today?" Grace asked. The question had been playing on her mind since Tony had dragged her out of the door. Tony shrugged, not looking up from his menu.

"I got bored," he replied.

"Are you always this impulsive?" she asked. He rolled his eyes.

"Again with the questions. And don't you dare tell me that it's because you're working for—"

"Tony," Grace interrupted and gave him a warning smile, "I'm loving assisting you with your suits."

Recognition flashed across Tony's face. Right. They were out in public. He couldn't call her a SHIELD agent while they were out in public because the public only knew her to be Greyson Marcussen, the world famous engineer who was so intelligent that Tony Stark had agreed to let her help him with his Iron Man suits.

"Greyson, I'm loving assisting you in all areas possible," he returned with a wink.

"You seem to forget that I'm a professional in every sense of the word. Whether I'm your assistant or your babysitter," Grace replied vaguely, her meaning loaded into her words.

"You wound me, Marcussen. And to think: I found your presence so comforting."

"Mr. Stark! Miss Marcussen! Welcome to Martino's. We're very honored to have you here. It's an honor that you've returned, Mr. Stark. I've brought you the very best wine that we have today, and if you're ready, I can take your order." A waiter with dark brown hair had come over carrying wine and was chatting about the specials of the day with Tony. Grace tuned them out. Tony seemed to know the waiter, and she wondered how many other women he'd brought here. Not that she thought of this outing as anything more than a professional lunch. God, the word professional kept coming up.

There was another reason that Tony had decided to take Grace out to lunch, and she wasn't sure why. Frankly, she was embarrassed that her hair still wasn't dry, and she wasn't dressed anywhere close to the way that she'd been planning to present herself as Greyson Marcussen. Tony was impulsive and reckless, and as a result, she would have to deal with Greyson's first public appearance being in denim shorts, a purple button down, and Sperrys.

She placed her order, shrimp alfredo, and redirected her gaze to Tony.

"So why did you bring me here?" she asked.

"I told you. I was bored. Am I on house arrest or something? To my knowledge, I didn't do anything wrong, and you never told me that I was on house arrest so I don't think it's fair to get me for leaving my house when I didn't even know I was on house arrest in the first place," he rambled.

"You're not on house arrest," Grace said. "I just want to know why you took me out to lunch. I'm not buying this whole story of your being bored."

"I wanted a nice lunch. Is that too much to ask for?" Tony questioned. "You're so uptight. You need a few chill pills."

"I don't need pills."

"I bet you'd be a lot of fun if you just relaxed."

"Tony."

"I'm serious."

"_Tony_."

"I love hearing you say my name."

Grace's amber eyes flashed, and Tony picked up on it, but she didn't say anything. The implications of his statement had said enough. Grace tried to think about something other than what he'd said. She cleared her throat. She drank her wine. She cleared her throat again.

Tony loved seeing Grace squirm. To be fair, she wasn't exactly squirming, but she didn't have as much of a hold on herself as she had a moment before. He was finally getting somewhere. The light from the sun through the window made her eyes appear even lighter so that they were a gold color. She didn't appear to be human in that moment, instead opting to be seen as a false creation of his imagination. However crazy his imagination got, though, Grace Marks was human, and she most certainly was real.

Her skin was an olive color, and the purple of her shirt looked good against her skin tone. Her hair was still wet, leaving marks across her shoulders, and he felt the sudden urge to tuck some of it behind her ear. He shifted awkwardly. He didn't usually have corny romantic thoughts like that. Tucking her hair behind her ear? He downed several sips of his wine. Something was going haywire in his brain. Sure, he was accustomed to quickly moving in on women, but he actually found Grace interesting, and he wanted to get to know her. That part was new.

"We didn't toast," he said.

"What do we toast to?" Grace asked.

"We have the ball tomorrow night and then Monaco. I'd say those are adventures, and who doesn't like to toast to an adventure?" He raised his eyebrows at her as if he were challenging her. She lifted her glass.

"To adventures."

"To adventures."

* * *

When Grace and Tony got back from their lunch, Tony went straight to work down in the lab. Grace took up her perch on the couch in the corner, and they went about their business. It had been a fun start of the morning, Grace admitted to herself.

By the time they'd gotten back to the house, it was 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and Tony was hard at work on the continuing search. It was almost painful for her to watch him as he hopefully waited for Jarvis to run diagnostics on possible replacements only to be disappointed when the results came back negative. He tried for hours to combine different elements, repeatedly feeling the lash of disappointment bite him across the back.

After five hours of working, he crossed to the couch where Grace was sitting. Without a word, he dropped onto the couch and swung his legs up onto it so he was lying down. The top of his head was two inches away from Grace's thigh, and she definitely noticed. Tony sighed.

"I'm going to sleep," he mumbled. "Don't wake me up until it's 7:30."

His hair was spiked up, the tips of it so close to her. She didn't have to wait long until gentle deep breaths told her that the genius was asleep. Tentatively, she reached out a hand towards his hair. It looked so soft and brown. Tony's hair was something that he was very proud of, and even though he'd never directly said that he loved his hair, she could tell. She hesitated, but her curiosity gave in, and she finally laid her hand lightly on his hair, running her fingers through it. She had been right. His hair was soft, and her fingers caught the scent of his shampoo.

Grace got the feeling again that he was a little boy. That's what he looked like: a little boy who wanted comfort. She'd noticed it several times whenever he was particularly disappointed that a result had come back negative. He'd even told her at lunch earlier that morning that he found her presence comforting, though she wasn't sure if he had been speaking to her as Grace or as Greyson.

Whether or not Tony would admit it, he was scared to die, and he desperately wanted to find a cure. When he couldn't find one, that look of a small boy wanting comfort crossed his face so painfully deep that Grace's heart ached. If comfort was what Tony Stark wanted, it wouldn't hurt her to be the one to give it to him.


	8. Arrival

**Again, many thank yous to Avengerlicious, peachy34, and ****humblewolf for taking the time to leave such supportive reviews! **

**I'm thinking of writing a kind of sequel to this, but it would be a Captain America/OC. Grace and Tony would have a small part in it, but it would take place in between Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. I'm also thinking of writing a real sequel that would be a continuation of this, and it would take place during The Avengers. It'd be a Grace/Tony-based narrative on the events that happened in the movie. Let me know if you're interested in any of that. Please, please, please review and leave your thoughts on this story and for the possible sequels that I'm considering writing!**

* * *

Chapter 8

Tony hadn't done any work at all the day of the ball. He had checked his blood toxicity level in his room before he had gone outside to meet Grace in the hall because he didn't want her seeing that he was slowly becoming more and more poisoned. Whenever he changed out the core of his arc reactor, he made sure that his back was facing her so she wouldn't see the black veins leading outward from his chest. Grace didn't need to know just how bad the poisoning had gotten just yet.

He hadn't done anything at all that day. The only reason he had come out of his room at the time he did instead of waiting until later was so he could see Grace. They didn't converse very much throughout the day other than to talk about logistics for the ball, but he simply wanted to be around her.

Yesterday when he had taken his nap, Grace had thought that he'd been asleep, and she'd stroked his hair. Tony _had_ been sleeping, but the feeling of pressure on his hair had brought him closer to consciousness, and he had been aware of her fingers running through the unruly strands of his dark hair. He had felt the ache of wanting to wrap himself closer to her in order to receive all the comfort that she had to give, but he knew that if he'd given any indication whatsoever that he was aware of her actions, she would've stopped in a heartbeat.

She was easy to be around. Despite her burning gaze and quick approach to professionalism, she was a nice presence, and he liked having her near him. They had sat on the couch in the living room for a while, Grace reading and Tony watching TV. Finally, five o'clock rolled around, and Grace had to start getting ready, and Tony was ordered back to his room since he couldn't be anywhere that she was unable to monitor him.

It only took Tony a mere 20 minutes to get ready, and he was itching to get out of the house. They had agreed to meet in the hall at 7 P.M., and Tony stood in the hall at 6:59 waiting for her. He quietly counted out loud to see how long it would take her. Within four seconds, as usual, the door to her room swung open, and she hurried out.

The sight of her took Tony's breath away. She was wearing a pale mint green dress with one strap over the shoulder. The dress fell away from her in drapes, elegantly framing her figure. Her hair was in a simple fishtail braid down the back, and her make up was subtle but made the right features pop. Her amber eyes were highlighted in such a way that made them look gold. Dangly diamond earrings barely grazed her collarbone, and light pink lipstick was applied perfectly. She looked beautiful and tasteful. She had an amused smile on her face.

"Well," she said quietly. "You clean up well."

Tony was in his classic black tuxedo, and his hair had the same windswept look that it always did. His beard had been neatly trimmed by Dummy; Tony had surprisingly put enough faith into the lagging robot to take on the task of his beard, and the robot had done a perfect job with it. Grace thought that it was nice to see Tony in clothes that weren't spattered in grease.

"The car's out front," Tony said, hyperaware of the fact that his voice was much louder than it should be. He tried to clear his throat discreetly, and he took off down the hall with Grace trailing him. Grace was always trailing him. The click of her heels showed that she was keeping up at a quick pace, too.

"Happy has the car ready. I told him to have the car ready. I wasn't sure if it was too early to have the car ready. He didn't think it was too early to have the car ready." Tony mentally slapped himself across the face. He sounded like a goddamn broken record. He didn't glance at Grace because he knew that he would look insecure and flustered if he did, and he knew that she'd be smirking at him in that way that drove him crazy.

"Don't forget that I'm Greyson tonight," she reminded him. Tony briskly nodded and opened the front door for her. She swept out past him, taking the time to deliberately catch his eye as she walked under his gaze. Tony swore he died at that very moment. It was going to be a long night.

Happy was holding the limo door open for Grace. She wasn't surprised that they were going in a limo. She wasn't even surprised that Tony owned a limo. She greeted Happy with a gracious smile, and he returned the friendly greeting.

"Nervous, Princess?" Tony asked, sliding into the car and seating himself next to her. She shook her head.

"Not really," she said. "This is what every little girl dreams of. Dressing up in a fancy outfit and heels and going to a dance with a billionaire." She grinned at him.

"A handsome billionaire," Tony corrected. She rolled her eyes.

The rest of the car ride was in silence. Tony occasionally offered a few pieces of advice on how to handle the cameras and the press, but Grace didn't offer much conversation back. She wasn't nervous about her first appearance, per se. She was more excited than anything. She hadn't been lying when she'd told Tony that every little girl dreamed about this; it was true. She'd always wanted to go to a fancy event like this. She wasn't the kind of girl who got her head turned by fame; Grace was a realistic person. However, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy her time in the spotlight.

"We're here, boss," Hogan announced from the front seat. Photographers hurried around the car, snapping pictures. Tony glanced back at Grace to assess her. She appeared calm and at ease, completely unbothered by the frenzy taking place outside their limo.

"Ready?" he asked. She gave him a little nod, signifying that she was. Tony gestured to Hogan to open the doors. Happy got out, fighting the photographers off, and he opened the door for them. Tony looked back at Grace again. God, she was lovely.

"Prepare yourself," he said quietly and slid out first from the limo. Flashes lit up in front of him, and he was thankful that he'd slid his signature sunglasses on. Photographers were yelling his name left and right, and he adopted his usual bored expression. He ducked down slightly and held his hand out to Grace to help her out. In one slow motion, she pulled herself out of the limo. For a moment, it seemed as though even the photographers were left breathless by her looks because the flashing eased up. However, the moment of relief was only for a second because the flashes came even harder and faster now.

"Mr. Stark! Miss Marcussen! Could we have a word?"

"Miss Marcussen, over here!"

"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Look this way!"

Shouts came from every which way, but Grace handled herself with poise. Tony kept an eye on her as he wrapped an arm around her waist and gently eased her forward. She was calmly smiling and casting glances over her shoulder like a pro, and photographers were eating up her presence.

"You're a professional," Tony murmured in her ear. She gave him that same poised smile she'd been giving the photographers and winked.

"Told you I'm good at this," she said. Tony continued to work his way into the building, his hand still on the small of her back. They slowly made a path to the top of the stairs, and then the infamous Tony Stark spontaneity kicked in. He turned around to face the cameras, and Grace turned with him, being guided by his hand. He lifted his free hand to wave at everyone, and then, without any warning, he pulled Grace into him and grazed her cheek with his lips. The cameras went crazy. He held her there for a moment, feeling the softness of her skin against him, and when he pulled back, she whipped her head to look at him. He winked at her, and then he pulled her inside the building with him.

"What the fuck was that," Grace hissed under her breath as they went in. Her heart was racing, and she wasn't sure whether it was from the adrenaline that had been drawn out by the photographers or from the kiss that Tony had so gently placed on her cheek for all the world to see. He didn't look at her, keeping his gaze straight in front of him.

"Just something for people to talk about," he said.

"You are dead," she snapped.

"We'll see about that. Rhodey!" Tony exclaimed. Grace followed his gaze to a tall, slim black man in a military uniform. He didn't look particularly happy to see Tony. He was in the middle of a conversation with someone, and his facial expression was one of dread and exasperation. Tony closed in on his friend and his conversation partner, pulling Grace along with him.

"Tony, this is Alexander Folsom. He's one of the top surgeons for the U.S. military," Rhodey said, attempting to sound pleasant while also giving Tony a warning glare. Tony briefly shook hands with the man, though he didn't give two shits about who the man was and what the man did.

"Rhodey, have you seen the bar?" Tony asked. Rhodes's face dropped to the floor. Folsom excused himself, and Rhodes turned to give Tony his full attention.

"Tony, what the fuck are you doing?" he asked.

"Hmmm, it seems that that isn't the first time that I've heard a variant of that expression," Tony mused. "Rhodey, you're being rude. This is Greyson Marcussen."

"I've heard so much about you," Grace said with a wide smile, extending her hand. Rhodes's face softened when he saw her, and he took her hand in his.

"I apologize for my behavior this evening, ma'am, but I'm sure you know firsthand that Tony's difficult to work with," he said pleasantly. Grace nodded with raised eyebrows.

"I'm fully aware of it," she said with a knowing tone in her voice. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Ok, this is nice and everything, but this would be so much nicer with alcohol involved," he said, his voice flattening out into a bored monotone.

"You shouldn't be drinking, man," Rhodes chastised.

"Lighten up, buddy," Tony said with a wink. "Greyson, would you like to find the bar with me?"

He wrapped his arm around Grace's waist and whisked her away. She glanced over her shoulder to wave a polite goodbye to Rhodes and to exchange a knowing look with him. She glanced up at Tony, and she saw the concentration on his face as he searched the room for the bar. Finally, he spotted what seemed to be the bar off in the distance and sped easily toward it.

"Mr. Stark! Miss Marcussen, could I ask you a few questions?" A brunette reporter with a perky nose stepped out of the crowd and quickly blocked the way to the bar. Annoyance flickered across Tony's face because all he really wanted at that moment was to get a drink.

"Only if by a few you mean two, and you ask them in 30 seconds. Thirty, twenty-nine…" Tony began a bored countdown. The reporter's eyes widened in panic, and she hurriedly pulled a notebook out of the little evening bag on her arm.

"Um, ok…let's see—um, I was wanting to ask you what new features of the suit we'd see," she said, her words all spinning out and together quickly.

"Classified," Tony said and resumed his countdown. "Nineteen, eighteen…"

"When will the public see the new suit?"

"Never." And with that Tony started walking, leaving Grace apologizing profusely to the reporter and running off after him.

"Tony," she snapped. He ignored her.

"_Tony_," she emphasized.

"What?" He had reached the bar. "I'd like a scotch on the rocks."

The bartender quickly set to getting Tony's drink ready. Grace sighed.

"Is it really necessary to be rude?" she asked.

"Reporters are annoying little shits who will take anything you say and twist it into meaning whatever it is that they think the world wants to hear. You give them more than 30 seconds of your time, and then they begin to take advantage. Simple as that," he said. Grace pinched the bridge of her nose between her forefinger and thumb.

"Alright, Tony," she said in resignation. "If you want to act that way, you go ahead."

"Do you want anything, miss?" the bartender asked. She looked up at smiled at him.

"Yes, I'd like a glass of pinot grigio," she said pleasantly. Tony took a gulp of his drink and looked down at her.

"Your eyes don't look so weird tonight," he said.

"Thank you," she replied.

"You should wear your make up like that more often. You look less scary," he said, continuing to push her just for the hell of it.

"I'll keep it in mind," she said without really paying attention. The bartender was back, and he handed her the glass of wine. She smiled and thanked him, aware that Tony's eyes were on her. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to see Agent Coulson from SHIELD standing there with his big grin on his face.

"Coulson," she said discreetly, holding her glass up as if to toast him.

"Lovely to see you here, Miss Marcussen, Mr. Stark," Coulson said, using Grace's undercover name. Tony looked at the guy and squinted his eyes at him.

"Do I know you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Agent Coulson from SHIELD," Coulson replied, extending his hand out to Tony. Tony shook his hand, trying to place the agent.

"How do I know you? Actually, do I even know you?" he asked.

"Yes, Mr. Stark, you do know me. I wanted to debrief you on your experience in Afghanistan. I was also present at the weapons hearing about your suit in D.C., and I've worked closely with Miss Marcussen before. I think that all three of us are pretty well acquainted, wouldn't you, Greyson?" Coulson answered.

"Yes, I'd say we do," Grace replied jovially. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm here to keep an eye on things. You know, safety precautions," Coulson said with a shrug, deliberately avoiding looking at Tony. "It sure is nice to see a familiar face."

"So how'd you score an invite to this?" Tony asked, putting Coulson on the spot.

"We have our ways, Mr. Stark."

"So vague and so secretive. Who'd you have to kill?" Tony asked, narrowing his eyes. He was beginning to wonder if SHIELD had sent Coulson as someone else who would keep an eye on him throughout the night. Maybe he was just paranoid.

"No one, Mr. Stark," Coulson said, unfazed by Tony's defensiveness.

"Greyson, do you want to dance?" Tony asked suddenly.

"No, Tony, I don't really want to dance."

"Great, let's dance. I love this song." Tony grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the dance floor. A slower song was playing, and Grace felt her heart back up all the way to her throat. Tony pulled her close into his arms; she felt his body press against hers, his muscles hidden beneath his clothing. One arm snaked around her back, pulling her even tighter against him, and his lips were right by her ears. If Grace were still, she could feel his heart beating right beneath his arc reactor. The heat of his body was overwhelming. God, he smelled good.

"What's he doing here?" Tony murmured in her ear. His breath tickled her ear, and she tried not to giggle. She swallowed hard, trying to ignore the feeling of his body.

"I don't know, Tony," she replied quietly.

"Did SHIELD send him as another monitor?" he asked. She could hear the anger brewing beneath his voice. The last thing she wanted was for him to get angry and cause a scene at the ball.

"No. Maybe. I don't know. No one said anything to me."

Tony was quiet.

"You look stunning," he said suddenly, changing the subject, much to Grace's relief.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark," she said. She was glad that he couldn't see her face because then he would've seen the warm smile that crossed her lips.

"Are we back to the formalities again?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Stark," Grace replied, the smile still playing on her mouth.

"We should change that." Tony lowered his voice and tilted his head closer to Grace's ear. She could feel the gentle scratch of his signature beard against the skin of her ear, and she fought the shivers that threatened to unravel her spine.

"You're being very inappropriate," she said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tony answered, his voice sounding falsely innocent and surprised.

"You're unbelievable," Grace said with a sigh.

"That only makes me more attractive."

"You're also full of yourself."

"I'm enjoying this dance. Are you enjoying this dance?"

"Yes, I am. I love to dance."

"Do you now?"

"I wanted to major in dance in college, but I wound up studying archaeology because that's what my dad did."

Tony froze, and he pulled back from her for a second.

"Your dad was an archaeologist?" he asked. She nodded.

"He still is probably. Like I said, I haven't spoken to my parents since before I was in captivity," she said. The wheels in Tony's head started turning.

"What?" Grace asked, concerned by the frown on Tony's face.

"Marks," he said quietly, putting his lips to her ear again. "Your dad is Dr. Andrew Marks, isn't he?"

He began to sway to the music again, aware that their pause in the middle of the floor was drawing attention.

"Yes, that's my father," Grace said vaguely.

"I know your dad," Tony said. "I mean, I don't know him personally, but I know his work."

"It doesn't surprise me," Grace answered. "I had a feeling that you'd know who he was. He's one of the only archaeologists who focuses on the contemporary era."

"He's also the only person who still launches expeditions trying to find Captain America."


	9. Trouble

**So many shoutouts to give! Many thank yous to hockeygurl39, xxLiveLoveReadxx, ZabuzasGirl, Avengerlicious, .Uchiha, Alexstarlight18, and for the continued support! Keep leaving reviews and telling me what you want! (Please continue to tell me how much interest there is for the future sequels that I'd like to start tackling whenever I finish this, too!) Here's a chapter that I hope y'all like. Has some fluff in it ;) Much more fluff to come. On to Monaco and back to scenes that y'all will recognize from the movie in upcoming chapters!**

* * *

Chapter 9

Grace was a locked box. No matter how much Tony tried for the next three dances to get her to talk about her father and his work, she wouldn't budge. He decided to leave it alone when he saw that it only made her retreat back behind a cool, detached expression that reminded him very much of how she had looked when she had stood in his living room for the first time with Nick Fury. He would talk to her later about it.

Tony had grown up hearing Captain America stories; his father had shown him clips of the missing superhero when the young man was in his full glory. Tony had even played Captain America with his nanny when he was growing up. The older he'd gotten, the more he grew to hate hearing about the Captain because despite Howard Stark's aging, Howard still talked about what a noble young man the Captain had been, and he still organized search parties to find the body.

Howard had died before Dr. Andrew Marks came on the scene, fascinated by the story of Captain Steve Rogers, and he was ready to pick up where Stark had left off. Tony would never admit it to anyone, but he kept up with Dr. Marks's work. He wasn't obsessive about it or anything; he would occasionally check in and see what Dr. Marks had been up to and if there were any leads on the expeditions.

Tony wondered why Grace hadn't spoken to her parents before she was in captivity; he wondered why she had neglected to tell him about her father's work; he wondered why she had been assigned to watch him in the first place. He wondered all of these things while holding the SHIELD agent in his arms. He couldn't see her face, and he didn't need to to know that she was in the process of holding him at arm's length again. Her hair brushed against the side of his face, and he could smell how clean and feminine she was, if that was even a way to describe someone's smell.

"Do you want to go back and get our drinks?" he asked. Grace nodded against his shoulder. She was ready to change the subject, but she was sorry to step away from him. He pulled back a little bit to study her face. He was still close to her, close enough that she had to look up at him to make eye contact. She wondered why he hadn't moved away yet.

"Let's go," he murmured, finally taking her hand and gently leading her off the dance floor. They returned to the bar where Coulson was still standing.

"I guarded your drinks," he said good-naturedly. Tony eyed him with suspicion but didn't say anything as Grace thanked the SHIELD agent and took a big gulp of hers.

"I haven't danced in ages. That was great," she said. "Should we all get a seat?"

Tony really didn't want to have Coulson at the table, but he didn't say anything. He spotted a table that didn't appear to be occupied, and he pointed it out to Grace and Coulson. As he sat with them, he mused over how strange the situation was: he was sitting at a table at the Annual Memorial Hospital Ball with two SHIELD agents who were monitoring him.

"When are Pepper and Natalie getting here?" Grace asked.

"It should be any moment. Pepper was hoping that the paparazzi wouldn't be as heavy if she came late, and since she's still training Natalie, and this is Natalie's first public appearance as an employee of Stark Industries, she thought it'd be nice if they went together," Tony replied.

"How are you liking your new assistant, Mr. Stark?" Coulson asked.

"How'd you know I got a new assistant? Are you spying on me?" Tony asked nonchalantly. Coulson gave a thin smile and shook his head.

"No, Mr. Stark, I'm just making conversation," he said.

"Are you feeding information to this guy?" Tony asked, directing his question towards Grace. Grace gave him a look that promised him a thousand different deaths.

"Right, ok, I don't think you're telling him anything," Tony corrected himself.

"Are you feeling ok, Mr. Stark?" Coulson asked.

"Why is everyone always asking me questions? This is boring. No, Agent, I'm not feeling ok because I'm feeling bored. In fact, I'm feeling so bored that I think it's possibly a lethal amount of bored," Tony retorted with his famous Stark snark.

"I apologize, Agent," Grace said quickly. "Normally I would make excuses for Tony's behavior, but I don't think that any need to be made tonight."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony snapped. He was losing patience with tonight. He'd been feeling ok until he'd seen Coulson there, and he knew that Coulson's whole purpose for being at the ball was to serve as another monitor. For all Tony knew, there were more SHIELD agents roaming around keeping an eye on him, and he didn't even know it. Mentally, he made a note to ask Jarvis if the excessive paranoia that he was feeling was in fact Stage Two of the palladium poisoning kicking in.

The palladium was a whole other thing that he needed to worry about, let alone the Expo that he was still in charge of, even if Pepper was handling making all the little decisions that went with it, and he had just found out that he had a slight connection with Grace's father. Tony Stark's night wasn't going as well as he'd planned, though by now he should've known better; big nights such as tonight never went his way because there was always some damn villain trying to kill him.

"It's supposed to mean that you're acting extra bratty," Grace snapped back. Tony narrowed his eyes.

"If I were bratty, I'd come up with a response to say to that, but I'm not going to because I'm mature and too adult-like to comment back on that," he said.

"By commenting that you weren't going to comment back, you commented," Grace said irritably.

"You're annoying me," Tony hissed.

"You're being rude! You keep attacking Agent Coulson just because he's making simple conversation with you, and as soon as I point it out, you act like a spoiled brat."

"Well, I guess I am a spoiled brat since I need a _babysitter to make sure I don't do anything wrong_," Tony replied, his voice raising. Grace's eyes widened.

"Shut up," she spat quietly.

"Hey, everyone!" Pepper Potts's clear, steady voice broke the tension as she walked over to the table with Natalie by her side. Pepper was wearing a sky blue gown that dropped to just above her ankles; her hair was down and in curls with the front strands on the sides pulled back. Natalie looked stunning in an emerald green dress that hugged her in all the right places. Her hair was back in a bun, showcasing her high cheekbones. She had her polite smile on.

"Hi, Pepper," Grace said thankfully, breathing out a sigh of relief. She ignored Tony's dirty looks. "How was getting past the photographers?"

"It wasn't that bad; coming late has its perks," Pepper said as she and Natalie took a seat. She glanced at Tony.

"Well, you look sour, boss," she said cheerfully.

"Greyson is being mean to me," he said. He inwardly winced at how childish he sounded, but he chose to ignore it because acknowledging it meant that Grace had won, and he was in too foul of a mood to admit that Grace had won anything.

"I don't believe that. Agent Coulson, it's so nice to see you again. This is Natalie Rushman; she's Tony's new personal assistant," Pepper said, introducing Natalie. Natalie and Coulson shook hands, much to Grace's chagrin. Three SHIELD agents all sitting at the table, and they were all acting like they didn't really know each other, except for Coulson and Grace. Natalie's face didn't betray that she was familiar with Agent Coulson as she shook his hand; she still held her game face.

The rest of the night passed fairly calmly. Tony danced each with Pepper and Natalie, the latter being specifically to spite Grace. Grace was completely aware of Tony's actions, and she acted as though she didn't care. Tony Stark could dance with whomever he wanted to, anyway. It just so happened that he wanted to dance with one of her very close friends and colleagues. She barely spoke to Tony for the rest of the night, feeling contradictory as she felt both justified and unjustified for being mad at him.

The time finally came for them to leave, and as Tony and Natalie went to grab one last drink at the bar, Pepper took her aside.

"I just wanted to let you know that this is the first event that Tony hasn't left stumbling drunk," she said quietly. "I don't know what it is you're doing for him, but it's doing wonders."

"I haven't really done anything," Grace said with a wry smile. "It's hard to believe that his behavior tonight is any real improvement than what it was, considering how rude he's been the entire evening."

"Trust me. The fact that he didn't highly insult anyone important combined with the fact that he's relatively sober are huge improvements. It's a shame that Rhodey was too frustrated with him to sit with us because I think he would've been pleasantly surprised. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I think what impact you've made in such little time is wonderful. I'm going to be sad when you have to go," Pepper said, leading Grace back to Natalie and Tony who were ready to leave.

Grace thought about what Pepper had said on the ride home. Pepper seemed to think that there was some improvement in Tony's behavior, but Grace surely hadn't seen it tonight. Then again, Pepper knew what she was talking about because she'd been attending these functions for 10 years, and if tonight was the first night that she'd ever seen Tony leave a ball and not be hammered out of his mind, then maybe she had a point. However, Grace couldn't believe that she was the one who'd had any influence on it. She'd only been in the Stark Mansion for what, four days? Five? It was hard to tell. She felt like she'd been there forever.

After dropping Pepper off at her apartment, Happy Hogan delivered Natalie, Tony, and Grace back to the Stark Mansion. It was after midnight, and all of them were exhausted. Grace wasn't in the mood to deal with Tony. She said her good nights to Natalie when they walked in the door, and she walked quickly to her room. The immediate footsteps right behind her told her that Tony wasn't far behind.

She reached the door to her room and turned the knob, expecting to go in and not say anything to Tony.

"What, I don't get a goodnight?" Tony asked, his voice sounding playfully offended. "That's a little rude."

"You have nerve talking about rude," Grace answered with a sigh.

"You wound me."

"I bet I do."

"Grace, what are you upset about?" Tony asked. He figured he might as well ask. It was obvious that she wasn't happy with him.

"You were really rude to Agent Coulson tonight and basically everyone around you. You even threatened my cover," she said, finally turning to face the billionaire.

"Come on, it was all in good fun. And you can't blame me for being suspicious of Coulson," Tony said defensively.

"What are you talking about? He's done nothing to you."

"I'm suspicious of every goddamned SHIELD agent I see. My experience with them hasn't been too pleasant. Nick Fury seems to get into my house and override my systems whenever he wants to, and then on his last visit here he brought along someone to babysit me because apparently he and the rest of SHIELD don't think I can handle myself," Tony snapped.

"After the way you treated everyone tonight, I can't exactly vouch for your maturity," Grace remarked sharply. Tony narrowed his eyes at her.

"In case you haven't noticed, the whole reason you're here is to make sure that I don't die from palladium poisoning. My blood stream is slowly being choked by palladium, and in all honesty, I think I'm handling myself and everyone around me pretty well for someone who's dying at a fairly quick rate," he retorted.

"Oh, now you're trying to play the sympathy card?" Grace demanded. Tony paused and blinked.

"Well, yes, that doesn't hurt," he said.

"You're unbelievable!" Grace exclaimed.

"You know, I could be standing here acting all mad at you for not telling me that your father is really involved in the search for Captain America, but I'm not," Tony pointed out.

"That's completely different," Grace said quietly.

"Ok, sure. At this point, I think you'll say anything in order to be right, Agent."

"You're impossible, and you're pathetic," Grace snapped. Tony stared at her, and she glowered back at him. Suddenly, he reached out lightning quick and grabbed her face, pressing his lips to hers. Grace stopped breathing. Tony's hands were on either side of her face, and he was grasping her firmly but gently as he kissed her. His mouth took control of hers. She slowly found that she was allowing his tongue entrance into her mouth. Her heart was racing so felt that she was certain it had altogether stopped.

Tony pulled back from her and looked at her intensely, worry filling his dark brown eyes.

"What are you doing?" Grace asked him quietly when she found her voice. His eyebrows furrowed as he frowned at her.

"I don't know," he answered. They both stared at each other. His deep brown eyes stood out against his skin in the dim hallway, and his hair looked just as soft as it had when Grace had played with it when he was sleeping.

"Is it ok if I do it again?" he asked tentatively. Grace nodded, unsure of what was happening. He took a hesitant step forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him, and he lowered his face down to hers. He felt the soft curves of her body beneath his hands, and he couldn't help admiring how perfectly proportioned she was.

He rested his forehead against hers, and he closed his eyes, breathing in and out slowly. He opened his eyes again and found her mouth, covering it with his own. Grace put her hand on his chest, and she felt him slightly tense up. He hesitated, self-conscious of his arc reactor, but he then let the tension slip away and allowed her access.

Grace was wrapped in total warmth. Tony's body was pure heat and energy, and he wrapped himself around her trying to get even closer to her. She had never felt more at ease with doing something she knew would get her fired. She pulled back and looked at him with sincerity in her strange amber eyes.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

"Something that could get us both in a shit ton of trouble," Tony answered bluntly and matter-of-factly, but he said it in such a way that it made Grace smile. "But who cares. Fuck it."

His lips found hers, and she didn't say anything else.


	10. Focus

**Shout out time! Many thank yous to Avengerlicious, hockeygurl39, Ali, peachy34, and malala!**

**hockeygurl39: Thank you so much for your feedback on the possible sequels! The Captain America/OC that I'm thinking about doing would be focused mainly on Captain America and Emma (that's the OC name I've decided on), but Tony and Grace are going to play a very important part in the story. I'm definitely going to do the Avengers sequel, and that one will be told from the points of view of Tony and Grace like this one is. Iron Man is definitely my favorite superhero, so I prefer writing Iron Man stories, but I have a really cool idea that I want to try for tying in Steve and Tony and creating background for the Avengers sequel! =)**

**peachy34: Oh my goodness, you are too kind!**

**Malala: Thank you for your support and very sweet words! I'm so glad that you don't find Grace to be one of those really annoying OCs. That's part of the reason I wrote this: I wanted to write an OC that wouldn't make people hate reading OCs, and I wasn't sure if I was doing a good job with it, so thank you for your feedback! =)**

**Sorry that my A/Ns are getting to be so long. I have a lot to say...I hope you enjoy this chapter. Next chapter is going to be Monaco; I promise that Vanko is going to be introduced soon, and more scenes from the movie will be incorporated!**

* * *

Chapter 10

The memories of last night hit Grace like a train when she woke up the next morning. She was in her own bed, but the memories of Tony's mouth pressed against hers kept her company. Her solar plexus felt tingly, a sign that was very good and very bad. The tingles meant that she really liked Tony, and if SHIELD knew about what had taken place the night before in the hall outside her room, they wouldn't be happy.

Tony. The kiss. Oh God.

Grace lay flat on her back trying not to panic. What was she going to do now? She had to spend every waking moment with him, and now that they had kissed, what she was going to do? She couldn't tell if Tony had acted on his spontaneity just because he was Tony, or if he really had wanted to kiss her. He was a complex man, and she hated complex men. But this complex man was Tony.

She couldn't say that she regretted last night because she didn't. They'd stood out in the hall for a long time kissing. After some time, Tony had pulled away and said he felt bad about keeping her awake. They'd said good night, and they'd reluctantly left other. Grace couldn't say that she regretted anything that happened in that hallway. She just knew that awkward times were about to come, and she didn't want to deal with them.

"Good morning, miss," Jarvis greeted. Grace had gotten used to Jarvis waking her up at the right time each morning. She now preferred him over any alarm clock.

"Good morning, Jarvis," she said back.

"Nick Fury is in the living room waiting to see you," he replied. Grace's eyes widened, and the panic overtook her. The tingles in her stomach turned into electrifying shocks, and she briefly wondered if she were going to throw up.

"Are you serious?" she asked, quickly throwing on denim shorts and a loose, flowing blue tank top.

"Yes, miss. Mr. Stark hasn't yet upgraded my security since the last time Nick Fury was here," Jarvis replied by way of apology.

"Did he seem mad?" Grace threw her hair in a ponytail, hoping that putting it up would hide the fact that her hair looked dirty. She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror, but she didn't have time to work with anything.

"I cannot say. However, he said that he was coming back here to get you, but he let me when I told him that Mr. Stark would not be happy, and he seemed to understand what I meant." The humor and amusement showed through in Jarvis's voice, making Grace smile.

"Thanks, Jarvis. Wish me luck," she said, sighing. "Let me know if Tony leaves the room. If he does, could you tell him where I am?"

"Of course, miss."

"Thank you."

She jogged down the halls to the living room, slowing down before she walked in so it appeared that she had walked the whole time from her room. Nick Fury hadn't taken the liberty of sitting; instead, he was standing in the middle of the room with his arms folded, and he was holding what appeared to be a piece of paper. Grace's nerves were off the chart. Her defensive instincts were coming out, and she struggled to keep them under control. Fury didn't appear to be overly threatening, but she was still wary of what was going to happen.

"Good morning, Agent," Fury said, sounding relatively pleasant. Grace was instantly suspicious. Fury rarely sounded pleasant.

"Good morning, sir," she replied. "Are you here for a report?"

"Yes and no," Fury replied. "You see, I was sitting at my table this morning drinking my coffee and checking up on what's happening in the world, and on my sidebar I saw a headline that looked real interesting. So I clicked on that headline because the headline seemed impossible to believe, but it turns out it was possible to believe because there was a picture supporting the headline. Do you want to know what that was?"

Grace thought about shaking her head no, but she decided against it and nodded. Fury held out the paper to her, and she took it. When she saw the headline and the picture, she knew why Fury had come.

"Tony Stark and Greyson Marcussen: An Iron Love Story?"

Underneath the headline was a picture of Tony kissing her on the cheek for the paparazzi.

"Would you care to explain that to me?" Fury asked. He still sounded pleasant, and Grace wasn't sure what he was trying to do. Nonetheless, she was still cautious.

"Tony Stark is an impulsive man, and he likes to push people and annoy them to no end. Sir, you know exactly what I'm talking about because he does it every time he comes into SHIELD headquarters," Grace said.

"Agent, Tony Stark most definitely does not kiss me on the cheek," Fury retorted.

"He does it by hacking into SHIELD's systems. You know he does it, and he knows it annoys you; that's why he keeps doing it. He also does it to prove that he's smart, and SHIELD can't keep anything hidden from him," she answered.

"Agent, I'm going to tell you one time and one time only: be careful. I do not want to hear from anyone that you and Stark have fallen into something stupid that my ass is gonna have to haul you out of. Am I clear?" Fury stare-glared at her as she nodded.

"Yes, sir," she said. Grace felt relief sweeping through her body. She had been expecting so much worse, and she was beyond relieved to know that Fury wasn't there to pull her off the job, or even worse, to actually take her job.

"Now give me a report," Fury said, choosing to sit down now. Grace sat on the couch opposite of him.

"The palladium levels in his blood stream are slowly rising," she began. "His face is pale, and last night at the ball he was excessively paranoid about Agent Coulson's presence. He'll be really focused for five, six hours, and then he has to take a break because he's pushing himself too hard. He doesn't rest as long as he needs to. Basically, sir, he's like a wind up toy that doesn't take a break. Kind of like an Energizer Bunny though more sickly, if you will."

"So it sounds like he's not making progress," Fury said, sounding annoyed. Grace shook her head.

"No, sir, he's not. He works all day every day on finding a replacement, but he hasn't had any luck yet. Are you going to tell him about the Expo model?" she asked, lowering her voice considerably. Fury glared at her and shook his head. He leaned forward.

"The time hasn't come for that yet," he said, keeping his voice low as well. "Tony Stark's been running around the U.S. looking like an ass after that weapons hearing in D.C. I'm not handing that bit of information about the Expo model to him willy-nilly as a reward for making himself look like a shit."

"Are you going to tell him at all?" Grace asked, a frown making its way to her face.

"Of course I'm gonna tell him. You know the whole purpose of this mission is to scout out people for the Avengers Initiative, and if I sent Romanoff and you, then you know I'm serious about having Tony Stark be a part of it. I'm not gonna sit around and watch him die; the Avengers Initiative is too important for that. You said he's surviving right now, correct?"

"Yes, sir. For now, at least."

"When things get more serious, and if he still hasn't made any more progress, that'll be the time to step in. You know you leave for Monaco tomorrow for that damn Grand Prix thing, right?"

"Yes, sir. All the preparations have been made. Tony and I are both ready to depart tomorrow," she replied.

"All right. Don't fuck anything up. The last thing I need is to deal with any of Stark's shit that he leaves when there are much bigger problems that need to be taken care of."

Fury's voice worried Grace, and she frowned directly at him.

"What's happening?" she asked, still keeping her voice quiet.

"Some motherfucker from another planet is causing trouble in New Mexico. If you watch the news, keep an eye on it."

"Another planet?" Grace asked incredulously. "Like an alien?"

"Not an alien. That's about all I can let you in on at the moment, but we definitely could've used you in New Mexico," Fury said.

"Who's going to New Mexico?" Tony's voice filled the room, and Grace saw him standing at the entrance of the room wearing a t-shirt and jeans, his hair sticking up in that way that made Grace's heart soft. Tony frowned when he saw Fury in his living room.

"Did you come to collect my nanny?" he asked.

"I came here for a weekly report," Fury said, annoyance creeping into his voice as it usually did whenever Tony Stark was around. Fury had little patience when it came to the billionaire, but he needed Tony and Tony's skills.

"I've been good. Haven't snuck any cookies from the cookie jar. Go to bed when I'm told. I've been a model boy," Tony responded innocently, his big brown eyes wide and sparkling with fun.

"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation, Mr. Stark, or the reality of the fact that America depends on you," Fury said. Tony scoffed.

"I understand the gravity of my situation more than anyone else does. I'm fine. I'm working on it. Besides, I have my Expo that I'm also taking care of. It'll be a blast. You should drop by," he said nonchalantly. "I can hack into your calendar and pencil in the dates so you don't forget."

Fury glowered at him with his one eye, but he didn't respond. He gave Grace a knowing look, a look that communicated she'd better keep an eye on the billionaire and make sure he didn't do anything.

"Remember what we talked about, Agent," he said.

"Yes, sir," Grace replied.

"I expect to hear from you in a week with the next report," Fury said, and with one last glare of disgust and warning to Tony, he stalked out of the room with his black trench coat flaring open in a trail behind him.

Grace and Tony were left to themselves, and they didn't look at each other. The awkwardness of what had happened the night before was both on their minds, and they weren't sure what to say. Grace felt like a stereotypical awkward high school girl on a first date, too shy to really say or do anything for fear of displeasing her partner.

"What'd you tell him?" Tony finally spoke up.

"The truth," Grace responded. She wouldn't look at him. She sat back down on the couch and tried to act relaxed and unbothered by his presence. He crossed to the couch where Fury had been sitting, and he took the seat opposite of her.

"Did you tell him I haven't found a replacement?" he asked, the worry evident in his voice.

"Well, yes," she said. Tony ran a hand through his hair, the frustration on his face plain to see. For a moment, Grace felt guilty. On the other hand, however, he should know that she was going to tell the truth. She wasn't there of her own free will; she was there because SHIELD had assigned her to be there. If she'd had her choice, she would still be at headquarters continuing her training in hopes of getting another mission once her skills were under better control.

"You couldn't have told him that I had a lead on something or anything?" Tony asked. Grace forced herself to make eye contact with him.

"Well, you don't. I'm not going to lie to him. I told him everything he needed to know."

Tony didn't say anything. He broke his eye contact with her and closed his eyes, resting his head on the back of the couch.

"Jarvis, tell Natalie to bring me my water bottle from the fridge," he said tiredly.

"Right away, sir," Jarvis replied.

The two were silent, and they still didn't look at each other. Grace sensed that Tony was trying not to be mad at her because he knew that she was supposed to do her job, whether or not he wanted her to lie for him.

"So why aren't you talking to me?" Tony asked suddenly.

"What? I'm talking to you. We were just talking," Grace said. Tony squinted his eyes at her.

"No, we're not. You know what I mean," he said. A smile played on the corners of Grace's mouth.

"No, I don't actually," she said. "You're going to have to be more specific."

Before Tony could reply, Natalie walked in carrying Tony's thermos of chlorophyll. She was wearing a body-hugging black skirt and a light green blouse that brought out both the color of her eyes and her hair. When she walked, her hips swayed back and forth, attracting Tony's attention.

"Here's your water bottle, Mr. Stark," she said pleasantly, depositing the thermos in Tony's hands. His eyes scanned over her quickly, and he nodded abruptly.

"Thank you, Natalie," he said.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Stark," she said with a slight smile. "Is there anything I can get for you, Miss Marcussen?"

"No, I don't need anything. Thank you," Grace said, a tight smile on her face. "Are you all packed for Monaco?"

"Yes, ma'am, I am. I'm ready to go, and I'm very excited," Natalie replied brightly.

"Have you ever been to Monaco, Natalie? I saw you modeled in Tokyo. Did you ever model there?" Tony chimed in. Natalie shook her head sweetly.

"No, unfortunately, I didn't. I've never been to Monaco, so this will be a first for me," she said.

"That's good that you save some first times for when you're older," Tony said bluntly. Grace arched her eyebrows at his exacting words. He cleared his throat.

"That will be all, Natalie. Thank you," he said. She smiled at him and turned, her hair flipping over her shoulder as she left.

"Really?" Grace said.

"Really what?" Tony asked innocently.

"You know what I'm talking about," Grace said, pulling the same thing that Tony had on her just a few minutes before.

"Grace, if you're talking about what just happened with Natalie, then you must be blind to the fact that ever since you've been here, I've been so aware of your presence that it's basically driving me insane," he said bluntly.

Grace coughed suddenly; she hadn't been expecting that to come from Tony's mouth. She cleared her throat and furrowed her eyebrows, looking at him. His face was calm and smooth and sincere.

"That was unexpected," she said blankly.

"Yeah, it was," Tony agreed. "I don't know what it is, but there's something about you. And your eyes. Part of the time I want you to put on sunglasses because they're just way too weird, but then the other half of the time I don't want you to wear sunglasses because then no one could see them."

"Thank you," Grace said confused. Tony sighed.

"I'm not doing a very good job of romancing you, am I?" he asked. Grace smiled at him and shook her head.

"I'm great with robots," he said and shrugged. "Pity you're not a robot; you would be of great help in the lab."

Grace laughed.

"You're impossible," she said. Tony grinned.

"I believe you said that to me last night sometime right before we kissed," he said. Grace stood up and walked over to him. His heart started racing as he gazed up at her. She hadn't had a chance to do anything with her hair other than throw it in a ponytail, and she was only dressed in shorts and that flowy tank top, but she looked radiant in the light that poured through the window, and she looked perfect to him. She stood in front of him and lifted her right hand, reaching out towards his hair and hesitating, looking at him for permission before placing her hand in the brown mess and feeling it between her fingers.

"Your hair is so soft," she murmured. Tony smiled and grimaced up at her.

"Consider yourself lucky because no one gets to touch this," he said. "My hair is an off-limits zone to everyone."

Despite himself, he closed his eyes and let Grace continue to run her fingers through it. He remembered when he was a little boy, and his mother used to do that to his hair. It had been his biggest source of comfort, and he felt that same feeling now as Grace stroked the top of his head. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him until he could rest his forehead against her chest.

Grace's hands slid down to the back of the nape of his neck and gently caressed him there. He lifted his head to look at her, and her lips met his without warning. Her mouth was soft and open, and her tongue darted into his mouth. He smiled against her, and she drew back at the movement of his smiling.

"What?" she asked. Tony shook his head.

"Nothing," he said. "I like this."

Grace smiled back at him.

"Yeah," she said. "Me too."

"What are we going to do?" he asked. Grace shrugged.

"I don't know. We'll just have to be careful," she said. He nodded. He knew that what he was doing was stupid and reckless and hurtful because he wasn't finding a replacement, and the more time that passed, the more palladium seeped into his blood stream. He closed his eyes and fought back the thoughts of dying and letting people down. He wasn't going to focus on that for the moment. He was going to focus on his Expo, basically his legacy, and Monaco, and the suits, and Grace. He was going to focus on Grace.


	11. Monaco

**More shoutouts to hockeygurl39, xxLiveLoveReadxx, Guest, The Dark Lady55, peachy34, and Avengerlicious! Your reviews mean the world to me! You guys are the absolute sweetest.**

**Avengerlicious: That's actually a really good idea! I haven't even thought about that, but now I'm going to incorporate that in a future chapter.**

**Guest: Oh my goodness, that is one of the nicest reviews I've gotten. I'm so glad that you're enjoying my story. I hope that you have as much fun reading it as I do writing it.**

**The Dark Lady55: Fury will be back ;)**

**peachy34: Thank you for all your continued support and your kind words! They mean a ton!**

**xxLiveLoveReadxx and hockeygurl39: Thank y'all for showing interest in the possible sequels! I'm glad that you guys want to stay on board for the other stories. I'm hoping to finish up this one relatively soon (I'm trying to do a chapter a day), and then I'll get started on the Captain America one as soon as I finish. Thank you again 3**

**Sorry for the super long chapter. This one took a while to write because I wanted to get the exact dialogue. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 11

Tony was undeniably happy. He gazed at the woman sitting across from his on his private jet, and he saw his reason to be happy. Agent Grace Marks had to be the strangest person that Tony Stark had ever encountered, and to say that he had come across plenty of weirdos was an understatement. However, Agent Grace Marks was the most real person he had ever associated with, and real was something that Tony was not presented with on a daily basis. So many people sucked up to him, even at Stark Industries, because of who he was, but Grace was unimpressed by his title; she'd made that clear since day one.

Tony found the irony in the fact that the one real person he knew was a SHIELD agent who was undercover whenever they went in public. He didn't care, though. There was something in those weird as fuck eyes that was authentic.

Tony had checked his blood toxicity level as soon as Grace had drifted to sleep; his heart had sunk when the readings displayed a taunting 51%. The palladium had taken over half his body already. He had been checking his blood level whenever Grace wasn't around, hoping that she wouldn't ask him for any specific readings because he didn't want her to know the truth. Technically, he was really screwing things up for her because she was supposed to know what was happening with him health-wise. He was aware that she could get in serious trouble with SHIELD over it, but he could barely accept the reality of what was happening to him, let alone tell Grace about it.

Pepper sat next to Grace, but she was awake. She had kept a close eye on Tony and Grace in the past 24 hours; she wasn't stupid. She'd picked up on every ounce of tension between the two as soon as Tony had laid eyes on Grace. She saw all the looks Tony cast Grace's way, and she saw all the times that Grace pretended she didn't notice Tony looking at her. Pepper had learned to be perceptive after working for Tony. Tony was always up to something, and she liked to be prepared for anything that happened, so she had learned how to read the complex genius as much as she could.

In all honesty, Pepper was thrilled about Agent Marks's presence in the Stark Mansion. Tony had been more contained and more manageable than he had ever been since Pepper had started working for him, and she knew that it had to do with Grace's being there. She wasn't jealous at all of the feelings Tony had for Grace; she and Tony had always held a platonic friendship. Tony was attractive, Pepper wouldn't deny it, but she wasn't attracted to him in the way that most women were. She worried about him and fretted over him because he was her best friend and her boss, and he was the closest thing to family she had. She wanted him to be happy.

That wasn't to say that she had missed the changes in Tony's physical appearance. He looked a little more pale and ragged. He seemed to tire more easily. He wasn't always bustling about as he usually was; instead, it seemed as though he put on a persona of bustling about in an attempt to make a shadow of his former self. Pepper didn't know what was wrong, but she knew that it had to be something serious if SHIELD had gotten involved and sent Grace in to keep an eye on him.

"What are we doing once we land?" Tony asked. Even though Natalie was Tony's new personal assistant, Pepper found that she was still doing a lot of her old job. She didn't mind because she somehow found time to manage putting out Tony's fires personally and professionally.

"We're all going to go to the hotel and check in and change before we head over to the race," she replied.

"Oh."

Tony downed several large gulps of his drink. Pepper had noticed that he'd been carrying it around with him for the past week or so, and she hadn't bothered to say anything about it, but curiosity got the better of her.

"What is that?" she asked.

"This? It's nothing," Tony responded quickly and sharply. Pepper thought about pushing the issue, but she didn't. Instead, she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

"Do you like working for me?" Tony suddenly asked. Pepper opened her eyes and saw her gazing intently at her with a frown on his face.

"It's never boring; I'll say that," she quipped with a grin. Tony's expression didn't change. If anything, he seemed more bothered by her saying that. He started picking at his thumb, a habit that only came out whenever he was nervous.

"But do you like it?" he repeated. Pepper weighed the question in her mind.

"Not always, but I like it far more than I don't. I can't see myself working anyplace else," she said. He looked out the window and didn't say anything. He had gone from being calm and excited to now depressive and thoughtful. One thing that Grace's presence hadn't changed: the infamous Tony Stark mood swings.

"What's wrong, Tony?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing, Pep."

Pepper knew when she was being shut out.

* * *

Fans were all over the Grand Prix. When they saw the two escorts driving in front of the recognizable black vehicle, they started cheering. Happy pulled up to the building and chuckled.

"Good luck fighting them," he said. Grace grimaced but smiled.

"Thanks. We'll need it."

"Look sharp, Princess. Ready, Potts?" Tony asked. Pepper nodded. With a snarky grin to Grace, Tony opened the door and got out. Cheers and screams erupted from the crowd. He flashed them his famous peace sign, and the screams got crazier. Happy walked around to let out Pepper and Grace, carrying the suit/suitcase that Tony had so cleverly designed.

Pepper and Grace emerged from the car with a no-nonsense demeanor from each of them. Pepper wore a blue dress that exposed her shoulders and tall heels. Grace wore equally tall heels and a pale yellow dress that hugged her figure and showed off her womanly assets. The two women walked around the car to join Tony before heading inside.

"There are going to be a shit ton of people that I hate here," Tony murmured under his breath to Grace and Pepper with a sigh.

"Tony, be pleasant," Pepper reprimanded. Tony gave an overdramatic eye roll behind his signature sunglasses.

"Pepper, please," he said.

"Right, I forgot that you know how to be pleasant," she responded.

"Exactly. Have you lost your mind?" He smirked over at Pepper and Grace. The two women exchanged a look, both eager to see that Tony was actually in a relatively pleasant mood. Well, for Tony he was pleasant.

They arrived at the room where all the bigwigs were hobnobbing, and Tony moved closer to Grace.

"You know, it's Europe. Whatever happens the next 20 minutes, just go with it," he said.

"Go with it?" Grace asked vaguely.

"Mr. Stark?" Before Tony could answer, Natalie had spotted all of them, and she hurried over to them with a large smile on her face. Her red hair was down and flowing free in her usual loose curls, and she was wearing a bright pink dress that fit her perfectly. Grace and Pepper were equally very surprised to see Natalie at the Grand Prix. Tony hadn't mentioned a word to any of them that she would be there. Grace felt a tingle of annoyance in her chest, but she kept her bright smile on.

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed cheerfully.

"Hello. How was your flight?" she asked.

"It was excellent. Boy, it's nice to see you," he replied with a grin. Grace cleared her throat. He glanced at her and then back at Natalie with a smile.

"We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind. Ok?" Natalie asked. Tony grabbed a drink off of a tray that someone was holding in front of him.

"Cheers," he said, holding his glass out to Pepper and Grace, who now had their own glasses. "Oh, mmhmm," he said vaguely to answer Natalie. A photographer began snapping pictures.

"When did this happen?" Pepper asked, her voice poisonously sweet beneath her pleasant smile. Tony glanced at Grace again and then back at the camera.

"What? You made me do it," he said innocently.

"I made you do what?" Pepper asked, still holding her sweet smile.

"You quit. Smile. Look right there. Look sharp, Greyson," Tony said, returning Pepper's sweet grin, disguising the fact that they were arguing. Grace wore her own falsely sweet smile. She exchanged another look with Pepper, and she looked at the camera, smiling happily for the world to see. Tony's hand had found its way to the small of her back.

"Stop acting constipated. Don't flare your nostrils," Tony murmured to the two of them.

"You're so predictable. That's the amazing thing," Pepper retorted through her smiling teeth.

"Siding with Pepper on this one," Grace chimed in as they all smiled for the picture.

"Right this way," Natalie said.

"Thanks," Tony droned in response. They all followed Natalie, Grace and Pepper feeling very unhappy with the circumstances that were taking place.

"When did she fly over?" Pepper asked.

"I have no idea. He didn't say a word to me about it," Grace answered.

"Nor to me. God, I should've known he'd fucking do this," Pepper said. She still wore her pleasant face. Grace laughed and pretended that they were talking about something marvelous.

"You look fantastic," Tony boomed.

"Why, thank you," Natalie replied with a coquettish glance back over her shoulder and secretive smile. Grace wasn't angry at all with Natalie; Natalie was undercover, and she was acting precisely how she needed to in order to assess Stark for the Avengers Initiative and to take any focus off of her. Natasha was so devoted to Clint anyway. Grace had never seen a couple quite like Natasha and Clint. They weren't touchy-feely, but anyone could tell that they had something unlike anyone else.

"But that's unprofessional," Tony corrected himself. "What's on the docket?"

"You have a 9:30 dinner," Natalie responded.

"Perfect. I'll be there at 11," Tony answered, sounding pleased with himself. "Is this us?"

"It can be," Natalie said, referring to the table in the corner that Tony had put his eye on.

"Great. Make it us," Tony said.

"Ok." Natalie smiled and began to talk to someone near her. Pepper spotted someone that she knew. She nudged Grace.

"That's Elon Musk," she whispered. "He's a fellow CEO with a plane company that we do business with. I'll have to go say hi to him. You can join me if you like. Everyone's curious to know who you are."

Grace nodded in response. Pepper flashed a genuine smile at the man.

"Mr. Musk! How are you?" she intoned.

"Hi, Pepper," he replied, standing to take her hand. "Congratulations on your promotion."

"Thank you very much," she said. "Have you met Greyson Marcussen before?"

"No, no, I haven't. Miss Marcussen, I have heard amazing things about your work. Everyone's calling you the female Tony Stark," he said, extending his hand to the brunette. Grace took his hand in hers and shook it firmly, giving him her own genuine smile.

"Oh my goodness, thank you," she said with a laugh. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm the female Tony Stark, but I'm very flattered."

"You're not doing yourself justice. I've read about all of your work in aeronautical engineering, and it's astounding. I'm no expert in it of course, but your work is wonderful," he said. Grace could feel herself blushing from the false praise, and she found the situation amusing; this man thought she'd really made all of these advances in aeronautical engineering, and she hadn't even finished out her years at college. She hoped that no one would ask her to explain her work because she surely would get stumped there.

"Elon, how's it going? Those Merlin engines are fantastic," Tony chimed in, firmly strutting over to shake hands with the man Grace had been talking to.

"Oh, thank you," Musk replied beaming. "Yeah, I've got an idea for an electric jet."

"You do?" Tony asked while also walking away. It seemed that Tony was the only person who could get away with doing that without seeming 100% rude.

"Yeah," Musk said.

"Then we'll make it work," Tony said, almost calling over his shoulder as he walked away, Grace and Pepper smiling politely to Musk as they followed behind Tony. Grace had a feeling that she and Pepper would be doing an awful lot of following today. Tony was perfectly at ease amongst all of these people; they were fellow CEOs and inventors, much like himself. In fact, a lot of them had slots at his Expo. He was in his element, even if he was slightly bored, and he looked damn good in grey pinstripe suit.

He took notice of Pepper, seeing that she looked tense.

"You want a massage?" he asked, his voice sounding mildly concerned.

"Oh, God. No, I don't want a massage," Pepper said sighing. Tony cut her off.

"I'll have Natalie make an—"

"I don't want Natalie to do—"

"Don't want you tense. You look like you could use one, too, Miss Marcussen. Massages for everyone," he said. "By the way, I don't mean to spring this on you."

"Thank you very much," Grace replied trying to sound jovial. They had arrived at the bar, no surprise, and Tony was already taking care of drinks. Typical Tony Stark. Pepper resisted the urge to exchange a look with Grace; they'd only been there about five minutes, and she felt as though she and Grace had developed a whole language with their exchanged glances communicating a thousand words about Tony and his behavior.

"Green is not your best color," Tony said suddenly to Pepper.

"Oh, please," Pepper said and rolled her eyes.

"Anthony! Is that you?" a voice came. Grace noticed a thin blonde man with glasses peeking around Tony's shoulders. She recognized him as Justin Hammer, the CEO of Hammer Industries. She had read up on how he and Tony had been competitors in the weapons industry until Tony had shut down the weapons portion of his company, leaving Hammer to take all of Tony's old contracts. She'd even watched the weapons hearing that had taken place shortly before she'd gone to monitor Tony, and she knew even just from watching the hearing that she wouldn't look him. The look on Tony's face instantly became annoyed at the sound of Hammer's voice.

"My least favorite person on Earth," Tony said, directing his comment towards Grace before turning to face his former competitor, "Justin Hammer."

"How you doing?" Hammer asked happily while clapping Tony on the shoulder. Pepper slightly nudged Grace's foot with her own, and Grace stifled a snicker, keeping her big wide smile plastered on her face.

"And you must be Greyson Marcussen!" he said, turning to Grace. "Wow, is Tony lucky that he gets to work with you. You're quite the genius from what I've read, little lady. Tony only works with the best. Well, just so you know, Tony's not the only rich guy here with a fancy car. You know Christine Everhart from _Vanity Fair_? You guys know each other?" he asked with that stupid grin still beaming through.

Tony had turned towards Pepper and Grace, and he was pleading with his eyes for them to get him out of his situation, but neither woman moved. Much to Grace's curiosity, Pepper adopted a smirk when Christine, a cute blonde woman with wavy hair, stepped forward.

"Hi! Yes," Christine said, also answering Hammer's question while Pepper simultaneously answered in the affirmative. Tony merely gazed at her with an uncomfortable look.

"Yes, roughly," he also agreed, his voice coming out much quicker and louder than normal.

"We do," Christine replied a little too smoothly with her smile too toothy. Grace picked up on something, but she wasn't entirely sure what was going on. She examined Tony's, Christine's, and Pepper's faces closely for any clues as to what was taking place in front of her.

"BTW, big story," Hammer said, leaning in close to Christine as if to tell her something big, "the new CEO of Stark Industries."

"I know, I know," Christine said, continuing to hold her cheerful disposition.

"Congratulations! This is also Anthony's new assistant, Greyson Marcussen. You're familiar with her, aren't you? She's the one who's done major work in the aeronautical engineering field, so Anthony has her on board now," Hammer exclaimed.

"My editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote from you two for our Powerful Women issue. Can I?" Christine asked. Grace was becoming a pro at holding a smile when she really didn't want to because at that moment she wanted to do anything other than give Christine Everhart from _Vanity Fair _a quote for her Powerful Women issue. Tony continued to shift uncomfortably next to Pepper without looking at Christine.

"Oh, sure," Pepper said easily with amusement. "I'll do it if Greyson does it."

The playful tone in Pepper's voice was evident, and Grace laughed, appearing good-natured amidst the awkward tension that was happening.

"I guess I have to do it then!" she exclaimed, holding her shoulders in an innocent shrug.

"She's actually doing a big spread on me for _Vanity Fair_," Hammer piped up. Pepper's eyebrows raised as her amusement heightened even more.

"I am," Christine giggled.

"I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know." Hammer grinned that annoying smile again.

"Right," Pepper agreed.

"Right?" Hammer asked excitedly.

"Yes, well, she did quite a…spread on Tony last year," Pepper replied, the meaning of what she was saying evident in her voice. Tony looked fifty shades of uncomfortable, and it suddenly dawned on Grace what was occurring in front of her, and she felt just as uncomfortable and embarrassed as anything. Tony suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling him close to her. He wrapped his arm firmly around her small waist and gently nuzzled her temple, grazing it with his lips.

"And she wrote a story as well," he said disinterestedly though pointedly, shooting Hammer a glance.

"It was very impressive," Pepper droned. Christine was giving Tony a polite but odd expression, and Grace found herself pressing the slightest bit closer to Tony and relaxing against him.

"That was good," Tony said vaguely, referring to the article.

"Very well done," Pepper intoned.

"Thank you," Christine said uncomfortably, ignoring the confused look Hammer was giving her. Tony's thumb started stroking Grace's hip, and she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to hit him or kiss him. She wasn't entirely sure of anything that was happening.

"I'm gonna go wash," Pepper said suddenly and awkwardly, taking the initiative and walking away.

"Don't leave me," Tony mumbled quietly to Grace and pulled her even tighter against him.

"Hey, buddy. How you doing?" Hammer asked, coming in and slapping Tony on the shoulder again. Tony grimaced.

"I'm all right," he said shortly.

"Looking gorgeous." Hammer winked at Grace. Grace reached up and protectively placed her hand on Tony's torso, making eye contact with Hammer as she smiled innocently.

"Please, this is tough," Tony said with a wince, trying to scoot away from Hammer and closer to Grace.

"Can I ask you—Is this your first time—" Christine began. Suddenly, cameras began flashing, and Hammer was moving closer to Tony, overwhelming the genius. Hammer was blathering on and on about what to say for the cameras. Tony slipped his sunglasses on, determined that the cameras would not get a good capture on his face.

"Fromage," Hammer said laughing at his own joke. "Say 'Brie!' Greyson, are you smiling? The cameras love you. Let's all get a picture."

"—that you guys have seen each other?" Christine finished, stepping in front of the cameras. God, Tony wished that she would go away. He could feel Grace's anger beside him as if it were a sixth sense. He knew that he had been treating her like shit since they'd gotten to the Grand Prix, and all he wanted to do was get to a quiet place where he could explain his motives to her. He wasn't being a prick, but his actions were making him look like a prick, and he needed to explain why he was acting the way he was to her.

"Ugh, God, that's so awful," Tony winced, pulling away from Hammer. He didn't even care about being polite to the man now. He was annoyed, and he didn't want to talk to the guy or his former one night stand. He wanted to talk to Grace.

"It's for the kids," Hammer said. Grace wondered if he ever stopped smiling.

"Listen," Christine spoke louder. "Is it the first time you've seen each other since the Senate?"

"Uh, since he got his contract revoked," Tony said with a smirk. Hammer's eyes widened in slight panic, and his smile got bigger. Tony began walking away, Christine following him.

"Well, actually," Hammer protested, "it's on hold."

"…when you attempted to—that's not what I heard. What's the difference between hold and cancelled? The truth?" Tony asked.

"Uh," Hammer stammered uncomfortably. "um, the truth is—why don't we put that away—" Hammer swatted the voice recorder in Christine's hands, but she held fast to it.

"Yeah, maybe," Tony mumbled more to Grace than anyone.

"The truth is, I'm actually hoping to present something at your Expo."

"Well, if you invent something that works," Tony smirked, pulling a chair out for Grace before seating himself, "I'll make sure I get you a slot."

"Mr. Stark?" Natalie came out of nowhere, and Grace was relieved to see her. She wanted to be far away from these people.

"Yes?" Tony turned to face the undercover SHIELD agent.

"Your corner table is ready," Natalie said. As Grace got up to leave, she could hear Hammer insisting to Christine that he already had a slot at the Expo. She rolled her eyes walking away. She'd never met a more insufferable man, and she hoped that she wouldn't have to see him for a while.

"Hammer needs a slot, Christine," Tony called over his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around Grace's waist again, and she snickered despite the irritation she was feeling towards Tony at that moment. He looked down at her and winked.

"We kid, yeah," Hammer covered up, fakely laughing. "We kid. We're kidders."

"I'm running to the bathroom," Tony murmured.

"I have to come with you," Grace answered quietly. Tony looked at her in exasperation.

"Do you really?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do," she quipped. He sighed.

"Fine. I've been wanting to talk to you anyway." He guided her to the bathroom, discreetly checking to make sure if anyone was watching, and they ducked inside. Tony faced her, and he realized that he felt nervous. She didn't appear to be pleased with him, and he could tell. He could also see that she was fighting the impulse to say anything. He sighed.

"Let me explain," he said. "It's not what it looks like."

Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" she asked evenly.

"The reason I'm treating Natalie the way that I am out in public is so that the press will leave you alone. They won't suspect you. You're already being thrown into all of this shit, and I really want them keeping their hands off you. If I redirect the scent, they won't ever pick up on our scent. If we have a scent. Do we have a scent?" Tony was babbling at this point, but he didn't care. He anxiously waited for Grace to say something. She had tilted her head, her long brown hair falling over her shoulder, and she was assessing him.

"Then what was that with Christine and Hammer?" she asked.

"That was when I thought fuck it," he replied. He took a step towards her, seeing how she'd react. She didn't move away, but she didn't move towards him.

"I don't know if you're mad, if I can touch you, come on. Help me out," he said. The look on his face was so nervous and self-conscious that Grace smiled a little bit. Seeing Tony Stark look unsure of himself was something that she never thought she'd see.

"Do you believe me?" he asked anxiously, encouraged by her smile.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I do."

She stepped forward and placed her hands on his chest. Tony took this opportunity to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear like he'd been tempted to that one day he'd taken her out to lunch. She didn't meet his eye, but he saw her light smile, and he kissed her forehead.

"To be honest, I've been wanting to kiss you ever since I woke up this morning," he said.

Before Grace could answer, the door swung open, and a man walked in. He froze when he saw Grace, and he looked around the bathroom in confusion for reassurance that this was the men's room. Grace gave him a stern look.

"Yeah, yeah, this is a business deal," she said. He awkwardly stuttered out a few apologies and backed out. Tony started laughing, much to Grace's surprise.

"You're really something," he said. "But hey, I'd like to take a whiz. Couldn't you step outside real quick? I'll be quick. Scout's honor."

Grace knew that she shouldn't, but before she knew it, she had agreed, and she had stepped out of the bathroom. Little did she know that inside that bathroom, Tony wasn't taking advantage of its primary use. Instead, he was inspecting the enlarged map of black veins stretching out from his arc reactor as he ignored the sick feeling in his mouth from the bright red 53% taunting him on the device in his hands.


	12. Vanish

**I'm sorry this chapter's so short! I wanted to update without leaving y'all hanging so I whipped this out as quickly as I could. I promise that the next chapter will be longer. Expect to be introduced to Vanko in the next one =) Shoutouts to Avengerlicious and hockeygurl39 for the continued feedback! Please continue to let me know what you all want more of!**

* * *

Chapter 12

Tony stared unflinchingly at himself in the mirror. He refused to look any longer at the black veins on his chest. Instead, he focused his attention on staring himself down in the mirror of the bathroom.

"Got anymore bad ideas?" he asked himself. He suddenly got an idea. A very bad idea. He smirked at himself in the mirror. He knew that he was being reckless, and he didn't give a shit. The palladium had taken over 50% of his bloodstream, and he was going to do whatever the fuck he wanted to do, and he wanted to carry out this idea that had popped into his head. First, he needed to give Grace the slip.

"Forgive me, Grace," he whispered to himself as he eyed a window in the bathroom. He almost stopped himself from easily lifting the window pane and hitching one leg over the windowsill when he pictured her face and how lovely she looked. He almost stopped himself, but he didn't.

* * *

Grace checked her phone and saw that Tony had been in the bathroom for 10 minutes. She didn't want to interrupt any _personal _things that he may have been doing, but surely 10 minutes was more than enough time to take care of anything. She knocked on the door.

"Tony?" she called. She listened and received no response.

"Tony," she called again, "I'm coming in."

When Grace opened the door to the bathroom, she was greeted by emptiness and an open window. Immediately, she knew what Tony had done. Anger flooded her entire system, her stomach churning with fury. She hurried to the window and glanced out. The window led to a balcony beneath it, and the balcony was a short drop to the ground. Tony Stark had escaped her.

Grace wasn't feeling the panic so much as the anger. She had to find him before Fury caught wind of anything, and she needed to find him soon. She spun on her heel and fled from the bathroom, scanning the room for Pepper. The blonde CEO would know the best options as to where Tony would be because she knew him the best. Grace spotted Pepper sitting at the table that Natalie had gotten for them. She hurried over, quickly pinning a smile to her face.

Pepper saw Grace, and she immediately noticed that Tony wasn't trailing behind the SHIELD agent.

"Greyson," she said cheerfully. She noticed the quick pace that Grace had been using, and she saw the fire in Grace's eyes, and she knew exactly what had happened.

"Do you know where Tony is?" Grace asked. She didn't disguise any ugly emotions in her voice. By this point, she didn't give a shit. No one else could see her face or hear her voice, and Pepper needed to know how urgent the situation was. Pepper's eyes widened.

"No, I don't know where he is," she said. "What happened?"

"He went into the bathroom, and I didn't follow him in. He escaped out the window, and there was a balcony underneath it so he's either outside or somewhere else in the building. I should've known better than to trust that he'd be in and out," Grace hissed. Pepper shook her head, setting her lips in a tight, thin line.

"You'll learn that every time you think he's changed, you're wrong," she said. Grace detected bitterness and disappointment in Pepper's voice, and she wondered how many times Tony had led Pepper to believe that he wasn't the same arrogant, narcissistic, self-destructive asshole that he'd been for years and years, and she knew that the count would be too high to guess.

"I need to find him as quickly as fucking possible without creating a scene. I need your help. Do you have any idea where he could be?," Grace asked quietly, switching into SHIELD agent mode. She was entirely calm and straightforward, assessing the situation and what she needed to do in order to handle it. In Grace's opinion, losing a poisoned Tony Stark was an emergency situation, and she was treating it as such.

"I have no idea," Pepper said, shaking her head. "I wish I had an idea, but he's Tony. He's so unpredictable when it comes to stuff like this. Normally, I'd say the bar, but he's clearly not there. I don't know where else he could be."

"Dammit," Grace sighed. "I'll start looking."

"I'll text Happy and tell him what's happening so he can keep an eye out for Tony," Pepper offered. Grace nodded appreciatively.

"Perfect. You stay here in case Tony comes back. Tell Happy to look outside, and I'll go search around the building for him," she said. "And whatever you do, do _not_ let Natalie know."

Pepper frowned in confusion.

"Don't tell Natalie? It might be good to have her help look for him," she said. Grace's eyes hardened, and she shook her head firmly.

"Natalie is the last person on Earth who should know about Tony's disappearance right now. Make up whatever lie you need to to keep her off the scent," she said, lowering her voice. Pepper nodded earnestly, but her face still held the same confused expression.

"Ok, I won't say a word to her, and I'll tell Happy not to either," she said with committed uncertainty. Grace flashed her a brief smile.

"Thanks. I appreciate it. I'm going to head out now. Call me if you hear anything," she said and turned away from Pepper, heading out the door to begin looking for Tony.

She hadn't seen Natalie since she'd been talking to Pepper, and that was a very good sign. Natalie couldn't know because she would report back to Fury instantly, and Fury would be on Grace's ass for it. As Grace walked down the hall, hurriedly searching the crowd for the dark-haired billionaire, she mentally kicked herself for having let her guard down. If she had insisted on staying in the bathroom, Tony wouldn't be missing, and her job wouldn't be in jeopardy. If SHIELD fired her, she wouldn't know where to go. She couldn't go back to her parents' house. That was a no-go, for sure. To say she was fucked was an understatement.

She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. There were too many people everywhere, and all the men seemed to blend together so that they all looked alike. A few people greeted her and tried to engage her in conversation, but she brushed them off as politely as she could. While it would be in good form for her to raise Greyson Marcussen's public image, she had to find Tony Stark.

Grace didn't believe in coincidences. Everything happened for a reason, and it was not a coincidence that she was standing in the middle of the elaborate lobby. It was not a coincidence that she had paused to run her hand through her hair. It was not a coincidence that she had chosen that moment to think about where he could be next. During the moment that all of this was happening, she was facing a television, and Tony Stark suddenly appeared on that television dressed as a racecar driver. His hair had that same windblown appearance, and he was stalking confidently amidst a group of women who were begging him for his autograph and a picture with him. Grace saw him, and she went completely still. Tony Stark was dressed as a racecar driver, and it appeared that he was now going to race his own racecar in the Grand Prix. All the blood drained out of Grace's body. Had Tony Stark been standing there in front of her with that insane grin while wearing that form-fitting racecar driver outfit, she would've murdered him on the spot in front of God and everybody.

She grasped her cell phone and called Pepper.

"Greyson," Pepper gasped into the phone.

"What's the use of having and owning your own racecar if you don't drive it?" Tony on TV said with a simplistic look of pride on his face, his eyes being hidden by his signature sunglasses. Grace was seething.

"Look at the TV," Grace snapped.

"Oh my God," Pepper mumbled. "Holy shit, what is he doing? Natalie. Natalie!...Did you know about this?...This—this cannot happen….Where's Happy?...Ok, get him. I need Happy. Greyson, I'm sorry, I'm back. Natalie's getting Happy. We'll meet you outside by the main entrance, ok?"

"Don't bring Natalie," Grace said quickly.

"All right, I'll tell her to stay here. Hold on, we'll be there," Pepper said. Grace hung up and stared at the TV, at Tony's smug grin and his smug hair and his smug racecar driver outfit that looked really great on him, though she would've sooner killed herself than admit that. She hurried to the main entrance and waited for Pepper and Happy. As soon as Agent Grace Marks got her hands on Tony Stark, she would let him know exactly how she felt about all of this.

Grace couldn't help but feel used and betrayed. In the deepest part of herself, she wondered if Tony had been manipulating her by pretending to be attracted to her just so he could gain her trust and jump ship as soon as he could. She tried to tell herself that Tony was better than that.

Grace knew people. Grace knew how they worked and operated. She had always had amazing skills when it came to reading people, and SHIELD had honed in on her skills, improving them so that they were impeccable. Yes, Tony Stark was a complicated man with complex layers of emotions and defenses that she still hadn't fully worked out yet, even with her SHIELD training, but she thought that she'd had him figured out well enough to know that he wouldn't have deliberately done this. Surely, he couldn't have, she thought to herself. Tony might be a messed up young man with a shit ton of problems, but she had seen that soft, vulnerable side of him that only wanted to be held and comforted. She had held him against her and run her fingers through her hair, silently whispering to him in her mind that it would be ok, that _he _would be ok. He couldn't have used her. Yet, as she stood there on the steps of the building, she couldn't help but wonder if she were just another woman who had been played by Anthony Edward Stark.


	13. Whiplash

**Shoutout to Avengerlicious, Guest, and MsRose91! Thank you so much for all the reviews. Keep telling me what you like and what you don't! Here's a long chapter for you guys. Hopefully it's not too long. Let me know if y'all want intimacy with Grace and Tony in future chapters...if you know what I mean :P**

* * *

Chapter 13

As Grace stood outside on the steps, she was away from the television and wasn't seeing what was unfolding on the track. Little did she know that the race had already started, and Tony had begun speeding down the track. Little did she know that amongst the workers of the Grand Prix, there was a man who was honing in on Tony. Little did she know that he had stepped out onto the track and sliced up a car with electric whips. She simply stood on the stairs and waited for Pepper and Happy. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of heels moving quickly on marble floor coming from behind her.

"Grace!" Pepper shouted. Grace's eyes widened at the recognition of her own name instead of her undercover name, but the panicked, terrified look on Pepper's face told her that a blown cover was the least of their problems right now. The blonde CEO had turned three shades paler, and she was hurrying towards Grace, Happy towing behind her holding Tony's portable suit/suitcase.

"Pepper?" Grace asked. Pepper grabbed Grace's arm and dragged her to the car. Happy jumped in the front seat.

"Go, go!" Pepper shouted. She then turned to Grace, her eyes searching Grace's amber ones. "Some guy walked onto the track, and he's got these electric whips, and it looks like he has an arc reactor. Tony's heading towards him."

Grace felt her heart stop. She swallowed as the reality of the situation set in around her. Tony was in severe danger, and he had nothing to protect himself with. Happy was already zooming towards the track, jostling her and Pepper around in the backseat. They were speeding towards a yellow, portable wall.

"Hang on," Happy warned cheerfully and gunned the car forward, ignoring the workers surrounding the wall who were trying to direct him elsewhere. Grace fought down the panic; if she panicked in the car, her survival skills were going to come out, and bad things would happen. She had to keep her cool. She wasn't going to die. As Happy crashed through the portable wall and onto the track, she repeated those words in her brain: she wasn't going to die.

Happy swerved onto the track, zooming in the opposite direction that the racecars were going. The fact that they were driving at very high speeds into oncoming cars that were also going at very high speeds did nothing to calm Grace's nerves. She could feel her control starting to slip. Happy glanced back at the women, and he noticed that Grace's eyes had deepened into a dark brown, almost black. The cars were soaring past them, and it seemed as though they were going to be blasted into smithereens by each one that sped by, oblivious to the man that was waiting for them to face him.

Grace was gripping the side of the seat cushion so hard that it had ripped off, but she hadn't noticed it because she wasn't quite herself at that moment: she had officially slipped into survival mode.

* * *

At that moment, Tony Stark was rounding the corner, and that was when he saw the man with the whips. _Well, shit, Stark_, he thought to himself, _this was a very bad idea_. By the time that he had formulated that thought, one of the whips had come down and sliced the front of his car off. The world seemed to move in slow motion as the car flipped. Tony was upside down, and he felt weightless. Perhaps he would've enjoyed the sensation had he not been strapped into a racecar that had just been sliced apart by a madman with electric whips and no shirt on. The impact of the car hitting the ground barely registered in Tony's mind as he closed his eyes and smashed into the concrete.

Tony winced as he pulled his helmet off. He looked behind him, and he could see the man standing as if he were waiting for Tony to approach him. Three cars crashed behind the man, and the man took the initiative and began to walk towards Tony. _Fuck_, Tony swore mentally. It dawned on him then that he didn't have his suit. Dread flooded him as he realized that he would have to take this guy down without the protections of his suit.

He timed the man's approach. At the appropriate time, Tony slipped out from the car and crept behind the man, grasping some metal that had come off of the car in the crash. The man whipped the side of the car off, pausing when he realized that Tony Stark was not there. Tony took the man's pause as an opportunity; he smashed the metal into the back of the man's head.

The man instantly turned around, whipping the metal out of Tony's hand and knocking Tony backwards. Tony landed on the asphalt roughly with a grunt. He didn't even feel the pain; adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He quickly scrambled backwards and rolled to the side as he anticipated the man's next swing. He continued crawling backwards, barely taking his eyes off of Whiplash, as he had so lovingly nicknamed the man, rolling backwards again to escape another attack.

Whiplash reared back, and Tony saw that he had no other move. At the last minute, he spread his legs in a wide V, and the whip barely missed anything valuable. Tony took a brief moment to thank his lucky stars that his masculinity had been preserved. He didn't mind if he got injured anywhere else but only as long as his face and male parts remained in tact and in perfect working condition.

Tony got up and began scrambling away. Taking his eyes off of Whiplash was a bad move; without warning, he felt electricity bite the back of his foot, and he was launched against the wreckage of one of the racecars. Jagged metal bit him along the side of his face, but again, he didn't feel the pain. He only briefly registered that there was liquid running down the side of his face.

Tony fell to the ground. He blinked hard, dazed by the blow and realizing that the liquid on his face was blood. He lay still, wondering what he could do next. There was no way that he could defeat the guy without his suit, but he couldn't let the whip dude get away. It was then that he noticed the gas from the wrecked racecar was leaking, and he was perfectly positioned so that he could see Whiplash approaching him from behind. He got an idea. He knew that Whiplash would try to strike him again, and if Tony timed it just right, he'd be able to get away unscathed by the attack, and the contact of the electricity with the gasoline would cause an explosion. He played dead, lying as still as he could, and when he saw Whiplash's arm rise up and come down, his muscles tensed, and he pulled out of there as quickly as he could.

He dove over the car and rolled behind it. As he stood up, he realized that his arm was on fire. Annoyed and only slightly alarmed by this fact, he quickly pat it out. He looked back up at the advancing lunatic, and he suddenly spotted a car that was very familiar speeding towards his direction. Relief spread throughout his body as he realized that it was Happy, Pepper, and Grace. Grace. God, he had a lot of explaining to do.

Tony saw that Happy wasn't slowing down, and he ran off to the side, grasping to the chain link fence as Happy slammed into Whiplash. The assailant was trapped between the car and the fence.

"Are you ok?" Happy shouted from the car. Tony hopped down, seeing that Whiplash wasn't about to go anywhere, and he stalked over to the car.

"Yeah," he said. He looked past Happy and into the backseat, searching for Grace. He found her pressed into the very corner of the backseat, and she looked noticeably different, though Tony couldn't quite place a finger on what it was that was so strange.

"Were you heading for me or him?" Tony demanded, suddenly noticing that Pepper was hysterically screaming and breathing all at the same time.

"I was trying to scare him," Happy said defensively.

"'Cause I can't tell!" Tony shouted.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Pepper shrieked. Had Grace been in a normal state of mind, she would've recognized that this was the first time she had ever seen the cool, calm Pepper Potts lose control.

"Better security!" Tony shouted back at her.

"GET IN THE CAR RIGHT NOW!" she screamed.

"I was attacked! We need better security!" Tony shrieked back, pointing at the stirring assailant.

"Get in the car!" Happy called back over the sounds of screaming and shouting.

"You're CEO. Better security measures. God, it's embarrassing! First vacation in two years." Tony knew he was being a bit of an asshole, but he didn't give a rat's ass at that moment. What he needed was to get the fuck out of there, take a shower, and talk to Grace. Grace still hadn't moved, and she wasn't looking at him, focusing entirely on something else. He began to walk to the other side of the car to get in on Grace's side and talk to her when suddenly she smashed the window of the car and flipped out of it.

"What the fuck—" he began, but he was interrupted by Whiplash's waking up. Whiplash lashed out at Tony and Grace. Grace's instincts kicked in, and she pushed Tony out of the way, the two of them hopping out of harm's way just in time. The door split off from the car.

"Oh, my God!" Pepper's screaming commenced again.

Happy backed up and smashed into the lunatic again.

"I got him!" he called out triumphantly.

"Hit him again. Hit him again!" Tony shouted. "Football."

Despite Pepper's hysteria, she seemed to know what he needed. She held out the suitcase to him, but Happy's driving made it impossible to give it to him.

"I got him!" Happy shouted again.

"Take the case, take it! Take the case!" Pepper shrieked.

"Give him the case!" Happy called. What remained of the door was flapping open and shut with each move of the car.

"Stop banging the car!" Pepper screamed. Finally, Grace shoved Tony aside and grabbed the suit from Pepper. Tony felt a mixture of annoyance and gratefulness as Grace tossed it to him.

"I could've gotten it," Tony snapped as he took it from her.

"Put it on, Stark," she snapped back. He saw that her eyes had gone black. Had he not been in the midst of death's possible reins, he would've commented on it. Actually, had he not been in the midst of death's possible reins, he would've grabbed her and pressed his mouth to hers because she looked especially attractive with her hair coming undone and her dress wrinkled from the crazy ride that she'd endured to get there.

"Get in the car!" he shouted instead. He set the case down on the ground and activated it. Grace watched as all the pieces unfolded, expanding and connecting across his body to encase him in the famous Iron Man suit. If she hadn't been in survival mode, she would've taken more time to admire him. The mask slid down, and the eyes powered on. He took his foot and put it against the car. Grace backed away in just enough time so that the car slid past her.

Iron Man held his repulsor up to blast Whiplash, but the cut of the whip knocked him back. Each time he held up his hand, Whiplash deflected it. Grace assessed the situation. What could she do to take down the target? That's what SHIELD had taught her. They had killed her original instincts of only saving herself and running away; they had trained her to take down the target and then run away. Neither Whiplash or Tony had realized in all the chaos of the past few minutes that she hadn't gotten back in the car. She crept silently behind Whiplash as he continued to, well, kick Tony's ass. By this time, Whiplash had gotten his whips around Tony's neck and was flinging him back and forth.

Tony finally seemed to get his bearings, and Grace decided that it was time to attack. She got a running start, leaping onto Whiplash's back, her legs wrapping around his neck. Using all the force that she could muster, she flipped him over her and slammed him into the ground. Tony quickly untangled himself and rushed forward, grasping the makeshift arc reactor from Whiplash's chest strap. The invention powered down.

Officials quickly honed in on the action, arresting the man. They began to drag him off, the man spitting blood at Tony, all the while laughing and screaming, "You…you lose! You lose. You lose, Stark!"

Tony crushed the arc reactor in his hand. He noticed Grace standing next to him. His lips set into a thin line.

"What was that for?" he demanded. She didn't say anything. She was breathing hard, and her eyes were that same black color. He felt uneasy underneath her gaze, and he realized that it was the first time he felt almost afraid of her. However, his anger was more prevalent than his fear, and he advanced on her.

"I had the situation under control," he snapped. She still didn't say anything, instead trying to steady her breathing. Tony had never shown anger towards her before, and she wasn't exactly sure how to handle it. She could feel her nerves starting calm down as she repeated to herself that she was alive and that no remaining threat existed for her anymore.

"What, are you just going to stare at me now?" he asked.

"Tony, come on," Happy spoke up gently. Tony turned away from Grace and walked away.

* * *

It was hell getting back to the hotel. Photographers were everywhere, and everyone wanted to speak to Grace and Tony, especially Grace. Greyson Marcussen was really making a name for herself, it seemed. Happy managed to wrangle up another car, though it wasn't too hard because dropping the names Tony Stark and Greyson Marcussen got him a lot more than what he'd bargained for.

The ride back to the hotel had been silent. Pepper had regained her composure, Grace was calm again, Natalie was shocked, and Tony was angry. No one said anything. Back in the enormous luxury suite that Natalie had booked for all of them, they each parted to their own separate rooms, except for Grace and Tony who had the same room with two separate beds.

Pepper had let Grace use her shower while Tony used the one in Grace and Tony's room. Grace showered quickly, her mind numb from everything that had just happened. She knew that Fury would be calling her soon to demand an explanation, and she had to come up with something to say about that. How could she tell him that she had let Tony out of her sight, and in that time, he had almost died, and she had shown the world that she knew how to take down evil villains? There wasn't exactly an easy way to explain that.

The hot water felt good against her skin. She was sore from the crash that Happy had created to injure Whiplash, and her hands had cuts from where she'd busted out the window and rolled onto the ground. Her hands stung underneath the hot water, but she bit her lip and let it run over her.

She turned the shower off and dried herself with one of the white fluffy towels that the hotel had provided. The towels were just as nice as the ones that Tony kept in the Stark Mansion. They were warm and fresh and clean. She happily buried her face in the towel and breathed the clean scent of it in. She exhaled slowly. Reluctantly, she got dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a loose, casual tank top. She wasn't looking forward to going back to the room that she shared with Tony because she knew he was mad at her. She checked the device that she carried with her that was supposed to alert her if Tony had left the room. He hadn't. She'd been reluctant to let him out of her sight again, but she'd finally given in because she'd desperately needed that shower. Besides, the device would tell her if he tried to leave.

She went back to the room and opened the door. Tony was still in the shower. She crept onto her bed and waited for him to get out. The door opened, and Natasha stood there. She shut the door behind her and crossed towards Grace.

"He's in the shower," Grace said quietly. Natasha nodded. This was the first chance that the two of them had gotten to talk alone, despite the fact that they'd basically been living together for the past three days. Natasha smirked good-naturedly at the other SHIELD agent.

"Nice skills. Stark's mad because you took down the target, and he couldn't?" she asked quietly. Grace nodded.

"I just wanted to come in real quick and tell you that SHIELD will be releasing an explanation of your sudden fighting abilities," she said.

"I'm not in trouble?" Grace asked. Natasha shrugged.

"Don't know," she replied. "Fury didn't say much other than to tell you that an excuse is going to be made, and Stark Industries will release the statement later this week after we get back. Chin up, kid."

Natasha quickly turned and exited as quickly as she had entered. Grace was left by herself again, confused about why Natasha had taken the time to even speak to her because she hadn't really said anything that was news to Grace. She heard the shower shut off. It was only a matter of minutes before Tony came back in. She sat on the bed still and continued to wait.

Tony walked in wearing a towel wrapped around his waist, and he was toweling his hair. He froze when he saw Grace, and she saw sheer panic strike his face. Suddenly, she saw why he looked so panicked. The black veins on his chest spreading out from his arc reactor made her gasp. She instantly forgot about everything she'd been wanting to say to him, instead standing up and rushing over to him.

"Tony," she breathed. He brought the towel he'd been using to dry his hair down in front of his chest.

"Can we not?" he asked. His voice was harsh, and he realized that. He shrugged her off and crossed to his bed. Grace's mouth hardened, and her eyes narrowed.

"What's your blood toxicity level?" she asked, turning back into the SHIELD agent that had been assigned to him. Tony ignored her, pulling a t-shirt over his head. She crossed to him.

"Tony, what's your blood toxicity level?" she repeated. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Can you go somewhere or something?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Last time I left you alone, you snuck out of a fucking window and put your life in danger, so now that's fucked up my job. I also risked blowing my fucking cover saving your ass out there on that track," Grace spat. Tony's eyes became hard, and he glared at her.

"I didn't ask for your assistance, _Agent_," he spat back. Grace laughed shortly.

"That crazy asshole was flinging you up and down the fucking track. If I hadn't stepped in, he could've killed you. I don't know if you remember, but I was assigned to make sure that you don't die," she retorted.

"I didn't ask for you to do that, now did I?" Tony snarled, his voice sounding much rougher than he'd wanted it to. He instantly regretted what he'd said when he saw that wall she'd let come down come back up.

"Grace, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that," he said. She shook her head and backed up slowly.

"Grace, please," he said, taking a step towards her. She spun on her heel and disappeared into the bathroom. Tony felt his chest tighten, and he sank down onto the bed. He could hear her rummaging through something. When she came back into the room, he looked up. She was carrying rubbing alcohol, gauze pads, Neosporin and Band-Aids.

"Look at me," she commanded shortly. He sat still and looked up at her, again feeling like a little boy obeying his mother. She put some rubbing alcohol on a gauze pad and placed her hands on his head. At her touch, he closed his eyes. Her skin was warm, and she smelled clean and fresh. All the anger that he'd felt earlier melted away. He was tired, and he felt his muscles loosen at her touch. The sting of the alcohol on the cut on his cheek made him wince, but the movement was also painful.

"Ouch," he said.

"This is what happens when you run away from me," Grace said. He opened his eyes to check her expression. She was giving him nothing. He couldn't tell whether she was kidding with him or being serious.

"Look, I know that was shitty," he said.

"Yep," she agreed. He sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said. She didn't say anything. She continued to clean the cut on his face. He breathed slowly, ignoring the increasing sting. He wanted her to keep her hands on him; he craved her touch. She was so comforting to him, and he desperately wanted to keep her near him. He wanted to touch her and comfort her the way she was doing to him. His heart rate picked up.

"Fifty-three percent," he said finally. Grace's hands slowed their work as the numbers sank into her mind.

"That high?" she responded quietly.

"Yeah," he said. She didn't say anything as she gently applied Neospoin and several Band-Aids to cover the cut.

"Why didn't you tell me it's gotten this bad?" she asked. Tony shrugged. He closed his eyes again, wanting her touch on him again.

"That's not good," she said.

"I know," he replied. She stared at him with a blank expression. He wanted to know what she was thinking. He sighed out loud again.

"Are you hurt?" he finally asked. She shook her head.

"Cut up my hands a little, but I'm ok," she said. He gestured for her to hold out her hands. She hesitated.

"Come on, let me see 'em," he said, attempting to sound not quite so serious but failing miserably. She slowly extended her hands, and he saw angry thin red cuts lining her hands. He didn't say anything as he examined them. Suddenly, he lowered his head and gently pressed his lips to the palm of her hand. Grace held her breath. His signature beard lightly swept across her hand; it didn't hurt because he was so gentle. He placed her hand just as gently on his cheek, and he closed his eyes.

"Tony," she said. He scooted over and gestured for her to sit next to him. She did, not taking her eyes off of him. He looked at her with his deep brown eyes, and she felt her heart stop beating all together.

"Be careful," he said.

"Don't run away," she replied. He nodded slowly.

"Ok, fair enough," he said. She finally smiled at him, and his heart melted when he saw her smiling.

"Hey, Grace?" he asked. Grace noticed that he seemed almost shy.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Could you stay with me tonight?" he asked. He was tired, but he didn't want to be by himself. He looked at her imploringly.

"Tony, I'm going to be in the same room. I can't leave you alone," she said with a smirk. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, ok," he said. "But could you _stay _with me?"

Grace realized what he was saying, and before she could do anything else, she nodded. A smile spread across his face. He hated sleeping alone at night after having gone through with a mission or a fight. He hated that feeling of being alone. Without any warning, he reached forward, and he held her, pressing her against him. Grace relaxed in his arms, and she ignored the fact that the man she was grasping so tightly to her was a man who was half dead.


	14. Omelet

**Continued shoutouts to the amazing support from Avengerlicious, xxLiveLoveReadxx, hockeygurl39, ElektraMackenzie, peachy34, and guest! Y'all are just the sweetest.**

**A few of you have asked me how many more chapters I'm planning on doing, and I'd like to get it under 30 chapters, realistically hoping for a total of 25. I know that I've been dragging this out, and it's going to be longer than I'd intended, so I'd like to apologize to you guys for making it so long! I spent too much time working on Grace and Tony instead of the movie scenes, so now I'm going to get a move on with writing the movie scenes. Hopefully it'll be done soon, and I'll move on to the Captain America/OC/Grace/Tony sequel and then the Avengers sequel. Again, I'm so sorry for making this story long and boring!**

* * *

Chapter 14

The point finally came when Grace and Tony could no longer stay awake. They'd spent the rest of the day in their room, deciding that they would clean up the messes of the day tomorrow; they were simply too exhausted emotionally and physically to take anything else on.

Grace hadn't left Tony's bed since she'd sat down on it. She'd tried to read for a little while, and Tony had tried to watch mindless TV, but neither was able to complete either task. Without saying a word to each other, they both nestled into the bed for the night. Grace was hesitant; she knew that she was going against all kinds of protocol by doing this. Hell, she'd broken a shit ton of rules in the short amount of time that she'd been monitoring Tony. She turned the lights out and was pleasantly surprised to find Tony's arc reactor lighting up the room.

"Oh, sorry," he said self-consciously, catching her looking at it. He tried to shift in such a way that the light was blocked. "I forget that it's bright. I can cover it up or something—"

"No, don't worry about it," Grace replied. She took the initiative to reach out and rest a hand on his chest, right below his arc reactor. She felt his muscles tense beneath her fingers but then relax. Tony sighed. He inwardly frowned to himself; he seemed to be doing a lot of sighing recently, and he hated sighers.

"Grace, to be honest, I'm a mess," he said plainly.

"I know," she replied. She was answered by his smirk illuminated by the blue glow of his arc reactor.

"This is where you're supposed to tell me that I have it all together," he said.

"Why lie?" she replied. He nodded, agreeing with her.

Tony was very aware of how close Grace was to him. They were both lying on their backs next to each other, heads turned to look at the person opposite. No parts of their bodies were touching, but Tony found himself aching for her touch. He wondered if it would be too forward to scoot closer to her and wound up deciding against it. He sensed that Grace was already nervous about possibly losing her job after he'd gotten away from her earlier that day and now with their sleeping arrangement. Her light amber eyes rested on him, the blue from his arc reactor reflecting into the amber color, making her eyes look even stranger.

"What?" he asked, his voice low. She shook her head.

"Nothing," she answered with a small smile. "I'm tired is all."

"Really? I could go for a run," Tony said nonchalantly.

"Please, you look like you can barely stay awake," Grace said.

"Is that a challenge, Agent Marks? I'll take you up on it. I will stay up all fucking night if you're challenging me," he answered quickly. Grace laughed, the sound trickling into his ears and making itself at home in his brain.

"You never stop, do you?" she asked. Tony made significant eye contact with her, holding her gaze.

"Not on the things that are worth it," he answered. Grace turned her lips inward and bit them, clearly thinking about something important. Her gaze turned off of him, looking downward, as if she were looking into herself.

"If you wanted to hold me," she began slowly, "I wouldn't stop you."

Tony saw the sincerity of her words through her eyes, and without a moment's hesitation, he had wrapped an arm tentatively around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Without thinking, he buried his face into the back of her neck, her hair having fallen to the side and exposing her bare skin. He closed his eyes and breathed in the clean scent of her. It was hard for him to believe that she was actually there, that she actually existed. Her small frame was curled up against him, and he wanted to press her against him so tightly that it almost hurt him not to.

"You're ok, Tony," Grace whispered, and with those words, Tony found a tiny shred of hope to hold onto.

* * *

The next day, bright and early, Grace found herself rushing down a hall beside Tony Stark as French policemen led them to where the man with the electric whips was being held. She couldn't understand a word of what the French men were saying; she wasn't Natasha Romanoff when it came to languages. Tony was responding back to them, and she couldn't help but find his ability to speak French incredibly sexy. She wondered when it was that she'd gone off the deep end because she'd always hated how French sounded, but now hearing Tony speak it made her whole body heat up more.

Speaking of heating up, this morning had been the perfect way to wake up. She'd found herself still wrapped up in Tony Stark, warmth radiating off of him and surrounding her in a protective cocoon. It hadn't gone unnoticed to Grace that it was the first time in over 10 years that she had felt truly safe. She had closed her eyes to savor the feeling of Tony's arms wrapped snugly around her and his forehead resting against the top of her back, curling under slightly.

Grace snapped back to reality as she realized that they had all reached the cell where the crazy dude was being held. Tony placed himself in front of her protectively, his hand gently grazing the top of her thigh as he held her back slightly. She found it to be a sweet gesture, even though she knew that she could easily take the guy down. Nonetheless, it was comforting to know that Tony was looking out for her. She glanced up at him, admiring how strong and serious he looked. She had removed the Band-Aid from his face before they got there because he had insisted that he didn't want to be seen by a killer with a Band-Aid on his face. She felt that it was a fair request. The cut was basically gone aside from some mild bruising. If anything, it made him look even stronger and more determined.

"We have five minutes," he murmured to her. "Stay behind me, and let me do the talking. The less he knows about you, the better."

Grace nodded. Without a warning, he pressed a quick kiss to her head and gestured to the French official to open the door. The man said something behind them as they walked in. Tony's pace was easy and slow, not disturbed by the fact that the man who had tried to kill him was sitting right in front of him. The door shut behind Grace, the sound sickening her. Tony stood still, taking in the sight of the man in front of him. He slowly began to stroll around him.

"Pretty decent tech," he said as if he were in a business meeting giving someone feedback on something that they wanted to sell him for his company. "Cycles per second were a little low. You could have doubled up your rotations."

Tony paced, crossing towards the man.

"You focused the repulsor energy through ionized plasma channels. It's effective. Not very efficient. But it's a passable knockoff." He sat down. Grace stood firmly off to the side further away from what was happening. For now, she would let Tony handle everything. He'd been very adamant about her letting him do all the talking; it'd been hell just trying to get him to accept the fact that he wasn't going to go in alone. There was no way in hell that she was going to let him out of her sight again, especially with a guy who had tried to electrocute/whip Tony to death.

"I don't get it. A little fine tuning, you could've made a solid paycheck. You could've sold it to North Korea, China, Iran, or gone right to the black market. You look like you got friends in low places." Tony's brown eyes were looking directly at the guy, and Grace could feel the intensity in the room. Despite her professionalism and her focus on the job, deep down she felt her attraction grow. Tony rarely took anything seriously, and seeing him in action was strangely sexy, but she wasn't focusing on that at the moment, even if it was in the back of her mind.

"You come from a family of thieves and butchers," the man finally spoke, a thick Russian accent woven into his words. "And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed."

Grace frowned. She didn't know what the man was talking about, and she wondered if SHIELD did. SHIELD probably did. SHIELD knew everything. Her only guess was the fact that Stark Industries used to make weapons, and maybe the man was somehow connected with someone who had died at the hands of Tony's weapons. However, if that were the case, Tony would've been dead a long time ago by other disgruntled family members. It chilled her to think of that, and she pushed the thought out of her mind. She glanced at Tony and saw no change in reaction. He simply continued to stare at the man with his intense gaze.

"Speaking of thieves, where did you get this design?" Tony asked, furrowing his brow. He was nonplussed by the words that the Russian man was speaking to him; he was used to similar things being said to him. Just another one adding to the pile.

"My father," the man responded. "Anton Vanko."

"Well, I never heard of him," Tony replied, sounding almost bored with the conversation.

"My father is the reason you're alive," the Russian said sincerely.

"The reason I'm alive is 'cause you had a shoot, you took it, you missed," Tony answered snarkily.

"Did I?" the Russian asked in an amused tone. His words sent a chill down Grace's spine, and she fought the urge to grab Tony and force him to leave. She knew that he needed to be here so she stood there, ready in case anything happened.

"If you can make God bleed, the people will cease to believe in him. And there will be blood in the water. And the sharks will come. The truth, all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you." The man stared deeply at Tony. Without breaking eye contact, Tony responded.

"Where will you be watching the world consume me from? That's right. A prison cell. I'll send you a bar of soap."

Only Grace was able to pick up on the fact that Tony was panicked despite his calm demeanor because she had studied him enough and knew him well enough to detect it. His abruptness to get out of the cell and his harsh words that lacked any real sort of humor behind them was enough to signal to her. He glanced at her, a hard look in his eyes, and he gestured to her that they were going to leave. He began walking towards the exit, reaching his arm out to Grace.

"Hey, Tony, Agent Marks. Before you go," the man said, "palladium in the chest, painful way to die."

Tony froze. Grace felt the wind leave her completely. This man who knew she was. She could feel Tony's muscles tense into bricks beside her. He turned his head back slightly as if he were going to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he knocked twice on the door to be let out and didn't touch Grace at all, though he desperately wanted to.

The door opened, releasing Grace and Tony from the chamber. Tony said something in French before snaking his arm around Grace's waist, his hand gripping her hipbone tightly in his hand. Waves of panic rolled off of him, and he tried to calm the swells threatening to make him lose any semblance of control that he had.

"He knows," Tony hissed under his breath. "He fucking knows."

"I don't know how he possibly could've…" Grace's voice trailed off.

"I don't know where he comes from, or who he is, but he's got sources somewhere." Tony ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh. He barely registered the fact that French officials were behind them, worriedly trailing the two of them until they reached the outside. Tony murmured a quick thank you to them and opened the door of the car waiting for him and Grace. Happy greeted the two but didn't receive anything in return. He got the hint.

* * *

"Does this look like it says, 'I'm dying, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you before now'?" Tony asked Grace, presenting a plate with a pathetic little omelet on it. Grace raised her eyebrows as she took the sight of it in. She considered lying to him to make him feel like he did a good job, but she took the honest route.

"It looks like you're saying, 'No one taught me how to make something edible'," she replied. Tony heaved a breath through his nose impatiently.

"Grace, I need this omelet to provoke guilt and sympathy from her," he said.

"Guilt?" Grace questioned.

"Yeah, guilt."

"Why guilt?"

"In order to effectively keep her from nagging on me full out, I have to provoke guilt. This omelet should make her feel guilty that she even thought about getting mad at me for not telling her I'm dying," Tony explained patiently.

"One, stop saying you're dying, and two, if anything, this omelet is going to make her feel guilty that she never taught you how to make real food, especially because it's taken you three fucking hours to create this….thing," Grace answered. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, this is going to have to do," he said. In spite of himself, he quickly leaned forward and sweetly planted a kiss on Grace's mouth. She smiled against his lips, and he pulled back.

"Well, from the frying pan and into the fire," he said and beckoned for her to follow him out to where Pepper was waiting for him. He suddenly paused, gesturing Grace to be quiet. On the TV, Senator Stern, God love him, was talking about Tony.

"It's just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle, and this man has no idea what he's doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy. I was at a hearing where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for 5 to 10 years, and here we are in Monaco realizing, 'Uh oh. These suits exist now.'"

"Mute," Tony said abruptly. Grace acted as though she hadn't seen the disturbed expression on his face. He walked into the room, forcing a stroll so as to appear unfazed by Stern's words.

"He should be giving me a medal," he said bitterly. "That's the truth."

Grace sat down across the aisle from Tony, facing Pepper. She watched as Tony deposited the covered omelet and utensils on the small table in front of Pepper. Pepper frowned in confusion.

"What is that?" she asked.

"This is your in-flight meal," Tony said, whisking the lid off of the thing and looking relatively proud of himself. He flashed a triumphant look in Grace's direction, prompting an eyeroll from the SHIELD agent.

"Did you just make that?" Pepper asked in disbelief. "Did he really just make that?" She looked at Grace for confirmation.

"Yeah. Where do you think I've been for three hours?" Tony asked, as if the answer were obvious.

"It's true. It took him three hours to make that," Grace said apologetically. Pepper stared at her incredulously before looking back at Tony. Tony and Grace made eye contact, and he knew that he had to tell Pepper.

"Tony," Pepper said suddenly and softly, "what are you not telling me? Grace, I know that you're in on this, too."

Grace said nothing, instead opting to look at Tony. It was his story to tell. Not hers. Tony had been looking out the window, distracted by the outside and wishing that he were anywhere but there. He finally looked at Pepper silently. He was struggling with what to say and how to say it.

"I don't want to go home. At all," he said, rolling his eyes briefly in resignation. "Let's cancel my birthday party and…uh…we're in Europe. Let's go to Venice. Cipriani."

Pepper let out an exhalation of breath.

"Remember?" Tony asked.

"Oh, yes," Pepper replied in an amused tone.

"It's a great place to…to…" Tony glanced at Grace, "be healthy."

"I don't think this is the right time. We're in kind of a mess," Pepper said gently.

"Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time," Tony said in a rational but pleading voice. He looked over at Grace, trying to enlist her support. "'Cause then we…"

"Well, I think as the CEO, I need to show up," Pepper responded responsibly.

"As CEO, you are entitled to a leave," Tony said flippantly.

"A leave?" Pepper asked, sounding confused again.

"A company retreat." Tony was grasping at straws now. "Grace needs one, too. She's been working hard and needs a break. If she's going to monitor me, she might as well do it in a nice area. You deserve a company retreat."

"Tony," Grace said quietly. She knew that he'd lost the battle, and she knew he wasn't going to be able to tell her. Tony wouldn't look at her, knowing that if he did, he wouldn't be able to stand being around either one of them, and he would retreat into himself and away from them. Solitude was the last thing he wanted.

"A retreat? During a time like this?" Pepper asked.

"Just a ride," Tony said, his resolve wearing off. "Well, I'm just saying to recharge our batteries and…and figure it all out."

Grace's heart ached as she saw him struggle to keep control of himself. He looked like he was one second away from falling apart. She felt that this vulnerability Tony Stark had was her Kryptonite because everyone she saw it she wanted to take him in her arms and protect him from everything that was hurting him. She knew Pepper felt the same way from the look that Pepper wore on her face. Pepper was just as lost and confused about what to do with Tony, and she hated seeing him like this. Pepper swallowed, unsure of what to say.

Grace couldn't take it anymore. She cautiously moved towards Tony and knelt by the arm of his chair.

"Not everyone runs on batteries, Tony," she said quietly, resting her hand on his arm. She didn't care anymore if Pepper saw her and Tony; Pepper already knew that there was something happening between the billionaire and the SHIELD agent. Tony gave the tiniest hint of a smile before letting his demons take over his face again.

"You know, I'm going to go get some rest," Pepper said, easing out of her chair and gesturing back towards one of the bedrooms on the plane that she had claimed as hers. Tony nodded, distracted.

"Yeah, I think I'll do the same. Good idea," he said absently. He stared out the window, getting lost in his thoughts until Grace moved her hand on his arm.

"Tony," she said gently. "Come on."

He let her lead him to the bedroom that they were sharing. She pulled down the covers for him as he took his shoes off, easing into the bed. She slid in behind him, wrapping herself around him as he curled on his side and faced opposite of her. Tony was being torn apart, and she wrapped him into her as tightly as she could because she wanted him to know that he wasn't the only one who could provide a shell to hide inside. She could protect him, too.


	15. Fusion

**My usual shoutouts to Avengerlicious, xxLiveLoveReadxx, MsRose91, and ElektraMackenzie! I can't express my gratitude to y'all for your reviews enough. Everyone, please review and tell me what you like and what you want more of.**

**I know in the last chapter I said I was going to focus more on the movie scenes, but I didn't really do that for this chapter...oops...**

**Well, here you have it, folks: SMUT SMUT SMUT SMUT SMUT. A chapter full of SMUT.**

**Let me know particularly what you think of this chapter. Do you want more of these, less of these, etc? Hit me up! Enjoy ;)**

* * *

Chapter 15

When Tony woke up an hour later on the plane, he realized that he was tucked inside Grace's arms. A rush of emotion spread through him, and he relished the feeling of someone wanting to shield him, a feeling that he had never experienced before, even from his own parents. Moving slowly so as not to wake her, he reached over to his nightstand to grab hold of his blood tester. He pricked his finger and waited for the results. The neon red flashed 57%. A metallic taste filled the back of his throat, and he swallowed it down.

He had noticed that he'd been more tired and wanting to sleep more. The black veins on his chest were also spreading higher, much to his immense dismay. The palladium was killing him, and he was nowhere closer to finding a cure. He set the device back on the nightstand, rolling back into position when he saw Grace's steady gaze lit up by his arc reactor.

"Jesus, how long have you been awake?" he asked. He wondered if she'd seen the reading, and he silently prayed to a god he didn't believe in that she hadn't. Her eyes were slightly clouded with drowsiness, but she appeared to be relatively alert.

"Fifty-seven percent, huh?" she replied quietly, and he knew that she'd seen.

"I was hoping you hadn't seen that," he said in a tone of resignation. He searched her face for any kind of reaction, but she remained still, her face unchanging. Her amber eyes looked back at him, and for the millionth time, he felt frustrated that he couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Can you say something? Your silence is driving me crazy," he said.

"I don't know what to say," she responded softly. Tony inched closer to her, his hand sliding around her hip. Grace held her breath as she realized how close they were to each other. She felt the heat radiating off of him and seeping into her bones, and she was more than aware of the want in Tony's eyes.

"I don't know what's happening with us," he spoke slowly, "but I don't want to take anything for granted."

He sighed.

"Look. You and I both know that I'm dying—"

"Don't say that," Grace interrupted.

"Well, it's the truth. I'm dying. You saw the readings," Tony said painfully. Grace twisted her mouth into an unreadable grimace.

"You're not dying," she repeated. Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed his face between her hands, pulling him to her mouth. Tony relaxed as he kissed her. She pulled back from him and looked at him intensely.

"You're alive, Tony," she said fiercely. "You're alive, and you're going to be ok. I'm not letting you die, ok? You're alive."

Tony heard a slight shake in her voice that almost went undetected, but he heard it, and he saw what couldn't be mistaken as an extra wetness in her eyes. He couldn't think of anything to say because there wasn't anything; she continued to give him hope even though every ounce of scientific evidence was determined to show her that she was wrong. In that moment, Tony appreciated her more than anything in the world.

His mouth was back on hers, his tongue requesting entrance. He noticed her tight grip on his back as she pressed him closer to her. Without fully realizing what he was doing, he moved on top of her. Her legs parted, allowing him to move closer to her. She smiled with satisfaction as she felt his firm erection against her. His lips were on her neck, caressing her bare skin with his mouth. She tilted her head to the side, allowing him access. Grace knew that this was the ultimate thing to get her fired, but she didn't care. Tony Stark had given her the feeling of safety, and she hadn't felt that in over 10 years; that fact wasn't something she could overlook.

Her fingers tugged his hair, pulling his head back so she could look at him. She was greeted by the sight of his beautiful eyes burning with something she knew was reflected in her own. His lips were swollen from kissing her.

"Keep going," she whispered. Despite the intensity of the moment, he grinned at her and winked.

"Roger that," he responded. Grace's hands were tugging at his shirt, urging him to take it off. Tony sat up and removed his shirt. He tensed when he realized that she could faintly see the outlines of his veins, thanks to the light that his arc reactor provided. He considered putting his shirt back on, but before he could move to find it, Grace had sat up, too, and she had placed her lips on his chest. Chills ran down his spine, and he closed his eyes, allowing her to touch the most vulnerable part of him. His breath caught in his throat, and he had to force himself to take air into his lungs.

Grace wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly to her. He opened his eyes and slid his hands up the back of her shirt. She removed it, encouraging him to take her bra off. With ease, Tony had unhooked her bra and managed to shimmy out of his pants. Her bare skin was spread out beneath him, and he took the warmth of her breast into his mouth. He heard her breath catch, and he quickly removed his boxers and her underwear.

Tony moved back on top of her, his bare skin flush against hers. His heartbeat quickened, and he positioned himself between her thighs. Her hips arched against his, and he took his cue.

With an easy thrust, Tony pushed into her. He sharply inhaled as he held himself still, taking in the feeling of being inside her. He slowly pulled back and pushed back in. Grace's eyes were wide and clouded with shock and pleasure. She could tell that he was keeping himself from letting go, forcing his thrusts to be slow and gentle. His breathing was labored, and his eyes were closed. She pressed her mouth to his muscular shoulder and kissed him.

"Let go, Tony," she whispered.

With her encouragement, Tony let out a quick hiss, and he began moving quickly inside her body. He knew he wouldn't last long; she was so wet and hot that he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out for too long. His thrusts became harder, releasing all the tension that he had been feeling for the past few days. He was really here; he was here, and Grace was with him, and he couldn't imagine being anywhere else with anyone else.

He let out a groan against her neck. Her quickened breath was rattling in his ear, and a moan escaped her lips.

"Tony," she breathed. He didn't feel the pain from her fingernails digging into his back; he was simply lost in her. Their mouths fused together as he continued his deep thrusts, stroking the insides of her. He could feel the orgasm building deep inside him as he pumped his hips desperately into her; Grace was also nearing her orgasm, her breathing becoming heavier and her moans growing louder.

"God, yes, Grace," he groaned. He pumped quickly and roughly inside her. Grace found her orgasm, arching against him, eyes wide open.

"Tony!" she cried out. Her orgasm triggered his, and he solidly thrusted into her, his eyes clouding over, and a strangled cry releasing from his throat as he rode out his intense climax.

He collapsed on top of her gasping, his chest heaving.

"Oh, Grace," he breathed. He could feel her breathing hard beneath him. When Grace looked at him, she saw his pupils wide from the orgasm. He closed his eyes and kissed her collarbone.

"Grace," he whispered her name again as if she were sacred to him, as if he were whispering a prayer. His gaze found her, and he stared at her reverently.

Regaining control of his senses, Tony slowly pulled out of her. Grace slipped away to the bathroom, planting a quick kiss against his temple. She took care of everything she needed to before returning back to the room. She found her underwear and shimmied into them, also pulling her tank top back over her head. Tony slowly pulled his shirt back on.

He rolled onto his back and reached his arm out to Grace. She smiled shyly and slowly climbed back into bed. As soon as she pulled the covers back over her, Tony pulled himself to her. He nuzzled against her shoulder. Grace felt his lips spreading into a smile as he settled next to her.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly. Grace nodded.

"Yeah, I am. Are you?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, looking at her. Grace paused, but then she just shook her head, continuing to smile at him.

"You're ok," she said. "I told you that you would be."

She pressed a kiss to Tony's mouth. He smiled against her and kissed her along her jawline.

"Do you believe me?" Grace asked.

"I'm not ok now," he replied honestly, "but as soon as we get back, I'm going to make sure that I do everything in my power to make sure that I will be."

"Ah, it seems that you've dug up some newfound determination," she answered. He shook his head.

"I didn't do it," he said simply. "You did."

She stared at him. She hadn't been prepared for his response, and she couldn't think of anything to say.

"Mr. Stark," she murmured, "that palladium's gone to your head."

Tony kissed her shoulder in response and put his head against the pillow. Palladium hadn't affected his thinking. Not at all. Agent Marks had affected his heart.


	16. Suspicions

**Continued shoutouts to Alexstarlight18, peachy34, hockeygurl39, AppoloniaAstria, Malala, and Avengerlicious!**

**Sorry that I haven't updated sooner! I know what it's like to be hooked on a fanfic and then the author not update for a while so I apologize for the wait. It seems that from what I've gotten in the reviews, y'all don't mind if I don't include as much of the movie scenes. That's a relief for me! I know this chapter is a movie scene, and then the next one I'll probably do is the party scene because I definitely want to write Grace's point of view on that. I'll probably skip a lot of the movie stuff after that but like, reference it in the chapters if that makes sense. Let me know what y'all think of the idea!**

**Also, just as a warning, there is some smut in this chapter! Not every chapter will have smut in it, but I thought I'd include something a little exciting since I made y'all wait for an update ;) Enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

* * *

Chapter 16

Tony wasn't doing very well. He wasn't doing very well at all. As he sat in one of his cars, his arm draped around Grace Marks, he listened to Jarvis spill out information about Whiplash, more commonly known as Ivan Vanko, son of Anton Vanko, a former colleague of Howard Stark's who had turned crooked. He listened and remembered everything Jarvis said, and he thought about how shitty he was feeling. He needed to change out his arc reactor core, but it would be about the third time or so that he'd changed it out that day; the cores were being burned down by the palladium.

He sneaked a peek at Grace. She was watching and listening intently to everything Jarvis was saying, not appearing to notice that Tony was looking at her. She was quickly becoming a fixed part of his life, and he found it ironic that he would find her as soon as he was dying. Maybe that's why he was being so impulsive with her. He wasn't the kind of man who fell for women in the emotional sense; sure, he was ready to fall for any woman when it came to the physical, but Grace Marks was so different than any other woman he'd ever met, and he was feeling so much more differently about her than all those women he'd had intimate relations with.

Tony's thoughts were interrupted by Rhodey entering his lab. He suppressed a groan, knowing that it would only further irritate the man. Rhodey was kind of the last person in the world he wanted to piss off other than Grace.

"Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now," Rhodey said authoritatively. "Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up PCH, knocking down your front door, and taking these. They're gonna take your suits, Tony, ok? They're sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore."

Rhodey crossed to the car, eyeing Grace with an equally firm look.

"And ma'am, I mean no disrespect, but surely you've got to understand that Tony can't be working on anymore suits right now. This is the worst time in the world for him to do that, and I think that your presence is only encouraging him and not in a good way," he said relatively gently. Grace was slightly amused, considering that she was there to stop Tony from doing anything drastic.

"I understand, Colonel," she said politely and blankly. Rhodey stared at her strangely for an extra second before turning his attention back to Tony.

"Tony, are you listening to me?" he asked. Tony looked up at him, and for the first time since everything had happened, Rhodey really took a good look at the billionaire and noticed that something was off. Tony Stark was always robust, healthy, and energetic, and the Tony Stark that was in front of him appeared to be nothing of the sort. A concerning cut right under his eye stood out angrily against the paleness of his skin.

"Are you ok?" Rhodey asked, his voice becoming more concerned. Tony ignored him, turning to Grace.

"Let's go," he said. Grace opened the door on her side of the car and slid out. Tony followed her, weakly pushing himself across the seating. He pushed his feet out and attempted to stand but found himself collapsing. The world was turning an odd shade of orangey green, and the room was spinning; Tony was completely disoriented.

"Tony," Grace's voice was in his ear. He tried to focus on it.

"Hey, man," Rhodey said, rushing to catch his friend. "Hey, hey!"

He took Tony's weight from Grace.

"Is he ok?" he asked the SHIELD agent. He looked back at Tony. "You all right?"

Grace ignored his question, worriedly staring at Tony. Ever since they'd come back from Monaco, she'd noticed that Tony was more sluggish. He wasn't up to his usual pace of bustling about his lab. He wanted to do more sitting and letting Jarvis and Dummy do his work for him. He had also been guzzling down more of that chlorophyll drink. Every few hours he was having to change out the reactor core. Whenever he put the new one in, he was back to his old self. He was full of energy and wanted to get things done, but he was quickly burned out on that as the core wasted away. He was aware of what was happening, and he took advantage of the energy he had whenever he replaced the core by using that energy to take Grace.

Grace certainly wasn't objecting. She and Tony had been inseparable since they'd had sex on the plane coming back from Monaco. She was still confused about what they were, but she didn't need an answer just then. More pressing matters were at hand, and she would deal with the relationship issue once Tony was cured from the poisoning. In the meantime, however, she would enjoy the frequent sex because, God, he was good at it.

The palladium was getting worse. She had to call Fury, but she was always around Tony, and she wouldn't be able to get the chance to do so.

As Rhodey escorted Tony to his chair, she quickly and discreetly pulled out her cell phone and sent Fury a quick text that read: **Expo model. **Fury had to tell Tony about it because Tony was reaching a point that was going to be hard to turn back from if he didn't learn about the secret behind the Expo model soon. Fury wasn't going to happy; he wanted Tony to figure it out for himself, but Tony wasn't going to be able to do that without a bit of an extra push. Grace shoved the phone back in her pocket, thankful that neither Rhodey nor Tony had caught her. Especially Tony; he would've wanted answers that she wasn't going to give him.

"Yeah, I should get to my desk," Tony replied, his voice strained. "Grace, get me the cigar box."

Rhodey eased Tony into a chair while Grace grabbed the cigar box full of core replacements and handed it to Tony. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Rhodey that Tony had referred to his assistant as Grace instead of Greyson, but he decided to deal with that later because now clearly wasn't the time, considering that Tony had basically collapsed just moments before. He studied Grace's face, seeing how she didn't seem surprised by anything that was happening, though she looked intensely concerned about the man in front of her, her gaze sharpened onto him.

"This is palladium," Tony explained, referring to the box that Grace had handed him. He reached under his shirt and pulled out his arc reactor. The device ejected what appeared to be a metal disk that looked completely eaten up; it was emitting smoke. Rhodey frowned.

"Is that supposed to be smoking?" he asked.

"If you must know, it's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall," Tony replied blandly. Rhodey took the piece from him. His eyebrows raised as he took in the sight of the smoking little thing.

"You had this in your body?" he asked. He glanced up at Grace. "Did you know about this?"

"Yes," Grace answered at the same time that Tony blurted out a no. Rhodey examined the glare that she gave the billionaire before turning back to him. She sighed, folding her arms across her chest and gazing firmly at Rhodey.

"I'm here to take care of him," she said. Rhodey knew that there was something the both of them were neglecting to tell him. Frustration bubbled up inside him. It was just like Tony to start having health problems at a time like this, and it was just like Tony to not tell him anything, and it was just like Tony to have a strange woman come take care of him and not explain anything about her.

"Ma'am, I'm getting a really weird feel off you, and I don't trust it," he said. Tony let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Leave her alone, Rhodes," he said.

"How about that high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?" Rhodey retorted as Tony swiveled away from him in his chair. Tony paused.

"Road rash," he said without batting an eye. He looked up at Rhodey, challenging the lieutenant colonel to say something. When Rhodes didn't respond, Tony reinserted his arc reactor. Grace cleared her throat.

"Thank you," Tony mumbled, though to whom he was sending his thanks wasn't clear. Grace longed to wrap her arms around him, but she held her ground. She sensed that Rhodey was onto her; it was only a matter of time before she'd have to come clean to him and reveal her cover. If she didn't, Rhodey was going to do something drastic, and she wouldn't be able to stop it. For now, though, she was going to hold her cover as long as possible. Rhodey suspected something funny, but he couldn't pin anything for sure on her. The closer he got to her scent, however, the closer she would be pushed into telling him the truth.

Tony's face cleared with relief as the power of the arc reactor kicked in. He glanced over at Grace, and he winked at her. Rhodey's stare burned into the back of his head, and he felt the smallest twinge of annoyance. He had a new core in his arc reactor so he was feeling the slightest bit better, and he had a very beautiful girl standing in front of him that he would love to use his newfound energy on if Rhodey weren't there.

"What are you looking at?" Tony confronted as he opened his chlorophyll bottle, hoping that his cross attitude would force Rhodey to leave.

"I'm looking at you," Rhodey said plainly. "You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act, and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone."

Something in Tony snapped.

"You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do," he said. "But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing."

He turned to face Rhodey, his face hardening. Rhodey rubbed a hand over his mouth and studied the man in front of him. He thought about saying a thousand different things to him, but he didn't. Instead, he briefly nodded at Tony, then at Grace, and exited the lab without so much as a goodbye.

"That was unpleasant," Grace said, more to herself than to Tony. Tony shrugged from his chair.

"He's always been like that," he responded. Grace folded her arms.

"Doubt it," she said. Silence passed between the two of them. Finally, Tony spoke.

"Are you ever going to tell me about the situation with your dad? What's that all about?" he asked. Grace smiled tightly at him.

"You don't need to worry about that," she said. "That should be the last of your concerns."

"Please, I love story time," Tony begged in such a way that Grace smiled softly and genuinely at him.

"Here's one: a billionaire genius needed to get to work, and when he didn't, the woman that was assigned to watch him got angry," she replied.

"I can think of a really good ending to that story," Tony said with a wink. Grace rolled her eyes.

"I don't think you should be doing anything, considering the state that you're in," she said. Tony scoffed.

"State? What state?" he asked.

"You nearly face-planted on the ground."

"You don't look too concerned."

"I'm very concerned. Hence why I think you should be working."

"I can work on you. How about that? We'll both be happy." Tony lifted his arm and beckoned to her to come closer to him. Grace crossed to him, not even bothering to playfully fight him. He drew her between his legs and wrapped his arms around her lower body. She fit snugly into him, a seemingly perfect fit.

He could feel himself hardening already. He looked up at Grace with a questioning smirk on his face. She squinted her eyes at him.

"You're in no condition for sexual activity," she said. He playfully frowned.

"Hmm, I'm not exactly sure that I like my women ordering me around," he said.

"You can't make the decisions for yourself so I have to make them for you," she replied in a low voice. Something about her voice made his blood quicken. He stood up and enveloped her mouth. She stiffened for a quick second, and it seemed as though she were going to pull away, but she didn't. She contributed to the kiss, much to Tony's enjoyment, deepening the kiss and pressing her hips against him. His moan melted into her mouth as sweet as honey.

"I can make my own decisions, Princess," he murmured into her lips. Grace smirked at him. He was making this a challenge.

Her hands swiftly unfastened his belt and unzipped his pants before he could do anything to stop her. Not that he would've anyway, but he was unable to react as her hand wrapped around him, grasping him firmly and cupping him. He gasped, pleasure taking over him.

His energy wouldn't last forever. Before either of them knew what was happening, they both found themselves on the floor of Tony's lab. Tony was shoving his boxers and pants down while Grace removed her own pants and underwear. Still wearing all of his clothes, he positioned himself over the lovely agent and lowered his hips between her thighs.

Grace spread her legs wide and pulled Tony close to her. The tip of his head pushed between her legs. She closed her eyes and felt him begin to slide in. He was uncharacteristically slow pushing into her. She could feel the head parting her and then his shaft moving slowly to fill her. He was only partway inside her when he gave a swift thrust, inserting the rest of himself. Not wasting any time, he moved urgently. He was deep within her body, giving everything he had to her. Grace wrapped her legs around him and drove him deeper.

He reached a spot inside her, and she cried out. Tony was pumping hard into her, and he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. He thrust until he couldn't hold it back any longer, riding out his orgasm as he stilled and shouted Grace's name. Exhaustion flooded his body, and aftershocks from his orgasm made him tense. Grace held him to her chest, stroking his hair as he panted on top of her.

Without saying anything, they lay there entwined together. Grace closed her eyes and silently sent messages to Fury in her mind to finally give in and show Tony the thing that would save him.

After they had gotten dressed and cleaned themselves up, Tony went back to work to put whatever leftover energy he had to good use before he tired out and had to change the reactor core again. He kissed Grace on the mouth tenderly and took up shop at his usual desk, barking orders to Jarvis. As usual for Grace, she took up her spot in the corner and watched as the man who was made of iron continued to work himself to death.


	17. Destruction

**Continued shoutouts to ilovetony, Avengerlicious, and MsRose91! Keep sending me feedback, you guys!**

**Here's the party scene. Going to try to start skipping more dialogue to progress the story. Next chapter will be nothing movie-related because Tony has a LOT of explaining to do. So far, positive feedbacks on the smut ;) Let me know if you guys want any more of that soon. Thank you so, so, so, so much for your support. Please let me know your thoughts!**

* * *

Chapter 17

The night was a disaster.

Grace stood in horror as she watched Tony DJing in his Iron Man suit. This was not how his birthday party was supposed to go. In fact, earlier that evening, before the party had started, he'd been perfectly fine. Well, relatively speaking, of course. Was Tony ever really _fine_? Nonetheless, he had been acting fairly himself. Grace had caught onto some extra sluggishness, but she had attributed that to the fact that his bloodstream was oozing more palladium than actual blood at the moment.

Natalie had been the one who had changed Tony's mood. Moments before Tony and Greyson made their appearance at the party, Natalie had come into the room where the two were finishing up final touches. Tony, feeling particularly wistful, had asked Natalie how she would spend the last birthday party of her life, a question to which Natalie had given the answer to prompt his mood change.

Grace had gone to change her shoes, leaving Tony alone. He had taken advantage of the time by himself to check his blood level. His heart stopped as he saw a strong 89% greeting him. He was close to death, much closer than he had thought. He swallowed, asking Natalie to bring him his watches. Grace entered the room, oblivious to his newfound knowledge. His mind wasn't on the watches, nor were they really on Grace, who was looking stunning in a peach colored dress that hit mid-thigh and flowed easily and loosely. He could only think about the fact that he was dying.

"I should cancel the party, shouldn't I?" he asked out loud.

"Probably," Grace replied immediately. He sighed before accepting the martini from Natalie and then asking her to bring him some of his watches. As Natalie approached, Tony gave her a long, hard stare. He hadn't spent that much time with his new personal assistant; she was very standoffish, though polite. She reminded him a lot of how Grace had been when she had first begun her monitoring assignment. He felt that Natalie was probably an interesting person with an interesting life, and he regarded her. She handed him the watch and stood off to the side, regarding him back.

"Can I ask you a question…hypothetically?" he asked. "Bit odd. If this was your last birthday party you were ever gonna have, how would you celebrate it?"

Natalie calmly looked at him, pausing for only a brief second.

"I'd do whatever I wanted to do with whoever I wanted to do it with," she replied solidly. Instantly, Tony's gaze turned to Grace. She was standing off to the side looking at him with that lovely expression on her face. As usual, he couldn't quite read what she was thinking, but damn, she did look beautiful. He beckoned for her to come over to him.

"Miss Marcussen," he murmured as he took her hand. Grace was instantly aware of the fact that Natalie was staring hard at the two of them. She tried to look as professional and un-romantically involved with Tony as she possibly could, but she knew that she was failing miserably as she sensed Natalie's gaze turning harder the longer the time passed.

"Come here," Tony said and stood up to meet her. Without any warning, he put his mouth on hers and kissed her. Despite all of Grace's thoughts telling her to stop this and act as though she and Tony Stark hadn't just been kissing, she kissed him back. However, she pulled short and stepped a little away from him.

"Come on, superstar," she said and gestured to him with her head. "We have a party out there to deal with."

* * *

The night had gone downhill from there.

Grace wasn't sure how or when it had happened, but Tony had wound up drinking far more than he should, and he had somehow slipped away from the party and down into the lab where he put on one of his Iron Man suits. The party was much bigger than either of them had thought it would be, and as a result, she was being pulled in all directions by people who wanted to talk about what had happened in Monaco and how she had stepped in and so easily taken down Vanko. It was a challenge to brush all of those people off politely, but she had to keep an eye on Tony. Unfortunately, in the few moments that she had been pulled away from him, he had taken advantage of his bar.

Her eyes were wide with panic and sick horror as she watched him on the makeshift stage. Tony was dancing and stumbling about the stage laughing and continuing to drink.

Had Tony not been drunk, she would've loved watching him dance. She could tell that he was a good dancer. Sure, she'd danced with him at the ball last week, but she'd never had the chance to watch him as he jammed out by himself. Well, he had certainly taken the opportunity to jam out by himself. On stage. In his Iron Man suit. Drunk.

Tony was clearly having a good time, but Grace knew it would only be a matter of time before something horrible happened. Pepper and Natalie had been dousing the fires for him all week since the incident in Monaco with Ivan Vanko; Tony was in a lot of trouble, so much to the point that the nation was wondering if he could still protect them anymore. Grace scanned the crowd for Pepper. She had briefly spoken with the CEO earlier when Tony had been decently lucid, but now he was getting out of control, and she needed to get him to take the suit off and calm down in the most discreet manner possible. In the mess of all the women and their bright clothes, all of them looked the same, and Grace still couldn't find Pepper.

"You know, the question I get asked most often is—"

Grace heard Tony Stark's voice being projected by a microphone. Her eyes whipped back to the stage, and she saw him standing still with a microphone in his hand. How the fuck did he get that, she wondered.

"'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?'" Tony paused and closed his eyes. Suddenly, relief flooded his face, and he opened them. "Just like that."

The crowd began cheering. Heat rose into Grace's cheeks. This was a disaster.

A flash of blonde hair caught her attention, and she saw Pepper coming up to the stage. Pepper took the microphone from Tony, smiling tightly at him and everyone else.

"Oh, wow," she said into the microphone as Tony doubled over in laughter at his own antics. "Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?" Tony drunkenly saluted everyone as they continued to cheer.

"Greyson, where are you? Greyson, could you come up here and join us?" Pepper asked, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice.

"I love you!" Tony crooned into the microphone, bending down to speak into it. Grace's face flushed again, but she kept her calm as she quickly moved forward to Pepper.

"Everyone, Greyson Marcussen," Pepper announced. Cheers and claps came from the audience. Grace lifted her hand in a wave, smiling for everyone. She took hold of Tony's iron-clad arm and gave him the same tight smile that Pepper was wearing.

"You are so dead," she spoke quietly to him. Tony was too busy giggling.

"Unbelievable! Thank you so much," she said, turning back to the crowd as a thanks.

"Tony, we thank you all so much for such a wonderful night, and we're all gonna say good night now, and thank you for coming," Pepper said into the microphone as she tried to push Tony away from her, who was crowding her for the microphone back.

"No, no, no, no, no, we can't," Tony protested, barely slurring his words at all to Grace's surprise. The crowd was disappointed, and they were vocally protesting. Grace wanted to smack them all; couldn't they see how clearly sick he was?

"Wait, wait, wait," Tony said. "We didn't have the cake. We didn't blow out the candles."

"You're out of control, ok?' Grace spoke up. "Trust me on this one."

"You're out of control, gorgeous," Tony mumbled back to her, getting closer to her and trying to kiss her. She stepped away from him, painfully aware of everyone's attention on the two of them.

"Kiss her!" She heard someone out in the audience shout.

"It's time to go to bed," she said firmly. "It's time."

"Give me another smooch," Tony pleaded, leaning in towards her.

"You're not going to be happy about this," she said, talking over him as he tried to get her to kiss him.

"Tony, stop," Pepper said, jumping in, but he wasn't listening to her either. Grace sighed.

"You just peed the suit," she said irritably.

"I know. It has a filtration system—"

"It's not sexy."

"—you could drink that water," Tony protested. Grace blinked at him.

"Did you just say I could drink it?" she asked. Tony nodded wide-eyed.

"Yeah, you could drink it," he said. She narrowed her eyes.

"Have you ever drunk it?" she asked. Tony paused, thinking about it.

"No," he finally replied.

"Just send everyone home, ok? It's time to…" Pepper's voice trailed off. Tony's attention switched back to her. Pepper. Always stepping in and ruining everything.

"If you say so," he replied almost dejectedly.

"Ok," Pepper said. "I'll take this, you take that."

She took the drink in his hand and gave him the microphone. Tony brought the mic up to his mouth.

"Pepper Potts and Greyson Marcussen: Dynamic Duo," he announced. "They're right. The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me like, an hour and a half ago. The _after-party_ starts in 15 minutes!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd again.

"He's got to be fucking kidding," Grace hissed.

"And if anybody—Greyson and Pepper—doesn't like it, there's the door." As Tony went to gesture to the door, one of his repulsors went off, smashing the glass of one of his see-through walls. Grace and Pepper stepped away from it quickly to avoid any of the falling glass. The attendants gasped, then cheered. Grace watched in disgust as they only egged him on.

"Yeah!" Tony shouted, shaking his fists.

"Rhodey's here, and he's going to—"

Pepper was cut off as Tony began shooting objects that people were tossing in the air. She quickly grabbed Grace, and the two of them ran off to the side where they couldn't be hurt by God knows what Tony was going to blow up next with his repulsors.

"He's out of control," she said almost dazed, watching what was happening. "Rhodey's here, and he wants to stop Tony, and I told him to let us handle it, but something's going to happen."

"Yeah, something awful's going to happen if Tony doesn't stop. I can't do anything to take him down while there's a crowd here without giving away my cover," Grace said, rubbing the side of her neck in frustration. "Where's Rhodey?"

Pepper glanced over the crowd, frowned, and then took a few more seconds as she looked around.

"I don't know. I just saw him a second ago before we went on stage," she said. "God, this is a nightmare. Did anything happen today that made him act differently? He's been doing so well since you got here, and I thought that maybe, you know, just maybe he was growing up, but now it's like he's regressed back into his old self."

Grace racked her brain, closing her eyes and thinking.

"Fuck," she said as the thought hit her suddenly. "Right before the party, he asked Natalie what she would do to celebrate at her last birthday party, and she said she'd do whatever she wanted with whoever, and I think maybe those words meant something to him, and now he's taking it to heart a little too much." Her words came out in a muddled rush, but she didn't care.

"I knew it," Pepper spat. "I was against his hiring Natalie. You know I was. The very first day I knew she had something up her sleeve, and I knew it'd only be a matter of—"

Suddenly, the sound of a suit near them caught their attention.

"I'm only gonna say this once," a loud voice announced. Rhodey.

The crowd parted to look at him, everyone silencing to take in the sight of another man in an Iron Man suit. Silence pierced the air for a good 5 seconds, allowing every person enough time to let the knowledge sink in that something wasn't right.

"Get out." With those words, Rhodey's mask slid down, the eyes lit up.

"Oh, shit," Pepper whispered.

The party-goers began scurrying out of the house, quickly leaving behind their drinks and food they'd been enjoying only moments before. Grace stood frozen, watching as Tony at first seemed amused by the sight of Rhodey in one of his suits. Then he seemed to realize the gravity of the situation, and his face sobered up a little bit.

"You don't deserve to wear one of these!" Rhodey shouted from inside the mask. "Shut it down!"

Tony nonchalantly turned back to the DJ.

"Goldstein," he called out into the mic. The DJ's head popped up over from where he'd taken shelter.

"Yes, Mr. Stark?" he asked.

"Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to," Tony said, starting out serious and then dissolving into giggles.

"Do something!" Pepper whisper-screeched to Grace. Grace shook her head helplessly.

"I can't," she whispered back. "It'll blow my cover if I step in. There's no way I can do anything to stop him without Rhodey or any of the other guests getting suspicious. Rhodey's already suspecting me of something."

A heavy bass beat dropped, and Rhodey grabbed Tony from behind.

"I told you to shut it down," Rhodey repeated.

Grace grabbed Pepper's arm and pushed her back and away from the action.

"We need to go," she said urgently.

"We can't just—" Pepper began.

Tony's mask dropped shut, his eyes blazing, and blasted Rhodey backwards.

"Yeah, let's go," Pepper agreed.

They hurried to the guests, trying to escort them out of the place safely while trying to ignore the crashes and the sounds of glass breaking coming from behind them. Grace felt a sinking dread come over her. Fury was most definitely not going to be pleased. Natasha was going to tell him that she'd seen Grace and Tony kiss, and she was going to tell him about the party and this fight. Fury was due for his next weekly report sometime soon, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Natalie!" Pepper suddenly barked.

"Miss Potts—" Natalie began, rushing towards her.

"Oh, don't you 'Miss Potts' me! I'm onto you! You know what? Ever since you came here—"

Tony and Rhodey crashed through the roof, interrupting her. Grace ran to Pepper, snatching her arm and pulling her away from what was happening. They both watched in equaled horror as Tony and Rhodey began to blast away at each other, taking punches and hits.

It didn't go unnoticed to Grace that Natasha slipped away from everyone unseen.

Tony bashed Rhodey down into the counter. He turned around and looked at everyone, taking in the sight of them. Grace, for the first time since she had started monitoring him, felt afraid. Her nerves began to tingle. _No, no, no, no, no_, she frantically thought. _You're not in danger_.

Tony let out a roar, scaring the guests away. Rhodey suddenly lifted what was left of the counter and flung into Tony, sending Tony right into the fireplace. He turned around and held his hand up, only to be mirrored by Rhodey doing the same thing.

"Put your hand down,' Rhodey ordered.

"You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?" Tony snapped.

"We don't have to do this, Tony," Rhodey pleaded, genuinely wanting to stop fighting with this guy, his best friend.

"You wanna be the War Machine, take your shot," Tony demanded.

"Put it down!" Rhodey shouted, losing any sentiments of wanting to negotiate with Tony in that instant.

"You gonna take a shot?!" Tony challenged.

"PUT IT DOWN!"

"NO!"

"Drop it, Tony!"

"Take it!"

The force of their repulsors collided. Panic built up in Grace's throat. She grabbed Pepper and began to run.

"Go!" she shouted. "Go, go, go!"

They ran through the damaged house, barely taking in the path of destruction left behind by Tony and Rhodey, their only goal being to get out of the house. They reached the front door and fled to the courtyard, which was surprisingly empty, considering the amount of cars that had been parked there earlier.

An odd almost explosion sound happened, and the ground rumbled beneath their feet. Grace nearly lost her balance, but she held firmly to Pepper. They both stood panting in the courtyard, gazing back at the house.

"What do you think happened?" Pepper asked quietly. Grace shrugged.

"No idea."

"We're in a shit ton of trouble."

"Understatement of the century."

A flash of light soaring up into the sky caught Grace's eye, capturing her attention. She squinted her eyes, trying to make it out in the night sky. The flash soared away from the house but then seemed to double back. Within seconds, Rhodey was standing in front of her and Pepper in the suit.

"Looks like you won," Grace said blandly.

"I'm sorry, guys," Rhodey said.

"No, no, we understand," Pepper replied quietly. Rhodey went to say something, and it looked like he was going to offer an explanation, but he stopped himself, fighting whether or not he should say it. Finally, he looked at them both straight on.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. And with that, he was up in the sky, jetting away from them. Grace wondered what he was apologizing for: helping destroy the house, taking Tony's suit, kicking Tony's ass, stepping in when Pepper had asked him not to, or even if he were just expressing that he was sorry they were the ones who were involved with this mess. As Agent Grace Marks stood there looking up into the night sky, she couldn't help feeling sorry, too.


	18. Survival Skills

**Much love to peachy34 and Avengerlicious for continued reviews! Keep the reviews coming, ladies and gentlemen. I'll try to cater to what you guys want as long as you let me know what it is you want to read! =)**

**peachy34: Grace will be going into survival mode soon, don't worry ;) I intend to have her doing a lot of that in The Avengers sequel. A lot more of her background will be explored in that sequel, too! I've kind of introduced it in this story, but I'm going to expand on it more in The Avengers. Thank you so much for reviewing and giving me your feedback! It means a ton.**

**Avengerlicious: I made sure Natasha saw them kiss specifically because you suggested it. I hadn't even thought about that possibility until you said something, but it was such a wonderful idea that I had to include it. The next chapter will be the donut, and Fury will definitely be bringing it up. Thank you for giving me feedback!**

**Keep sending me reviews, y'all!**

* * *

Chapter 18

Grace was livid. She sat on Tony's bed, having changed out of her party clothes. Tony was down in his lab; he had retreated there shortly after Rhodey had taken off with the suit. Grace didn't even bother trying to keep up with him. He had done enough damage for the night, and it wouldn't even matter if she were with him or not. He'd been in the lab long enough for Grace to shower and change her clothes, and she had resolved to stay up all night until he came upstairs.

By the side of the bed on the floor was the pair of cotton shorts that she'd worn the night before. She saw them and was acutely aware of the fact that she wouldn't be staying the night in Tony's room again. Ever since they had slept together on the flight back from Monaco, he'd been asking her to stay in his bed with him every single night. Each time she tried to act as if she would think about it because it caused a professional conflict, but each time she said yes.

Last night they'd had sex in his bed, and she'd wound up falling asleep without wearing her shorts. She preferred sleeping like that anyway, but she had never spent a full night in Tony's bed without them. It'd felt like such a milestone when she'd woken up that morning and seen them lying on the floor right where she'd left them before lying beneath Tony and grasping him in her arms when he climaxed.

She shifted uncomfortably at the memory but made no move to place the shorts elsewhere.

"Agent Marks, Mr. Stark is on his way up," Jarvis announced.

"Oh, ok," she answered, surprised. "Thank you for telling me."

"After this evening's antics, it only seemed fair to give you ample warning so you can prepare what you want to say," Jarvis replied. Despite the awful mood that she was in, Grace smirked. Jarvis definitely had a mouth on him, and she loved it. He was probably her favorite part of the Stark Mansion.

All she had to do was wait a few moments longer before the door flew open, and Tony slowly walked in. Grace sat calmly on the bed waiting for him to notice her. He was looking at the floor and moving very slowly, much slower than he usually did. It was obvious that he felt shitty, though whether he felt shitty because of how he'd acted or because he was feeling the early effects of a hangover was left unknown to Grace. He lifted his head, and he stopped in surprise when he saw Grace.

"I thought you went to bed," he said cautiously. Grace didn't reply; she simply stared at him. She saw the panic flash through his eyes, and she unabashedly enjoyed making him squirm.

"This is one of those moments where I don't find your eyes to be appealing. In fact, I find them terrifying. I mean, if we're going to be honest here," Tony said, attempting a joke. Grace continued to stare at him. Tony squinted at her. Was he just drunk, or did her eyes appear to be flaming? He blinked. He was probably just drunk. Or hungover. Or both.

He nervously inched forward a step, hoping to entice some sort of reaction from Grace, but she didn't move. She simply continued to gaze at him. Severe discomfort and guilt rushed through his veins more powerfully than any palladium could at that moment.

"So are you not talking to me?" he asked. He mentally kicked himself for sounding like a kid. The last thing he wanted was to sound like a confused, whiny kid. _Though really_, Tony thought briefly, _that's kind of what I am_.

"Ok, I guess you're not talking to me."

Grace blinked. Tony let out a breath through his nose.

"I have the beginnings of a really bad hangover coming on, and I'm—"

"What were you thinking?" Grace finally spoke. Her voice was low and quiet, almost so quiet that Tony wasn't sure she'd even spoken at all. However, the look on her face shared a completely different sentiment so he was sure that she'd said something. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I wasn't," he replied evenly.

"What the _fuck_ were you thinking?" Grace's voice shifted a little louder. Tony winced as the guilt slapped him across the face.

"I wasn't thinking," he repeated. "In case you didn't know, I'm kind of dying."

"Oh, stop with that already," Grace snapped impatiently, showing any real kind of emotion for the first time in the past few minutes.

"Well, it's true. My level's at 89%," he snapped back. Her eyes hardened, only seeming to burn brighter in the dim light of the room.

"And when were you going to tell me that?" she confronted. "Were you just going to let me wake up and find you dead in the bed next to me? Or were we going to be down in your lab, and all of a sudden you collapse?"

"I was planning to tell you," Tony said defensively, though he knew that they both knew he was lying. Grace stood up in a flash, surprising Tony with how quickly she could move. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised; she was an agent of SHIELD. He always forgot who she really was.

"I don't know if you keep forgetting this, but I'm supposed to make sure you don't do anything that will _kill you_!" Grace shouted. "I keep telling you every time you put my job in jeopardy that you are fucking things up for me because you're making me look incompetent in front of my boss. And you know what, I'm really not incompetent. I'm damn good at my job, and I don't need to lose it because you're being a selfish little shit."

Tony was surprised to feel the sharpness of her words sting him as smartly as if she had slapped him across the face. He'd known that she'd be angry, but he hadn't been expecting her to be _this _angry. Then again, he kind of had. He'd been shitty at the party by getting drunk and then using his suit to show off and then actually fighting Rhodey, destroying his home in the process. Fuck, Rhodey. He'd almost forgotten about that. His attention snapped back to the woman in front of him.

"You're one to talk about being selfish," he said, the words slipping out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Her eyes widened in shock.

"You have nerve to call me selfish?" she asked.

"What's this whole 'survival skill' thing about then if it's not selfish?" Tony demanded. "Basically, these 'skills' that make you a SHIELD agent are selfish ones because do you know what survival skills are? Survival skills are just a nicer way of talking about self-preservation. You're only concerned about saving _yourself_."

Grace's face had drained. She looked as if she had no blood left in her. Her throat was dry as she tried to swallow.

"Yeah, I read up on you the first night that you were here," Tony continued. "I had Jarvis hack into SHIELD's systems and bring up everything that I needed to know about you. I know how your father gave you a tiny injection of his version of the Super Soldier Serum when you were little. That's how you're able to get out of every single attack alive. The Serum brought out your strengths; that means it brought out your selfishness, your will to stay alive. If you really were selfless, you would've saved some people by now, wouldn't you? Instead, the agents that you went on other missions with ended up dead because you ran as soon as you could. That's right. I know you were the only person to return from all three missions that you've been sent on."

As soon as Tony finished speaking, he hated himself. He hated himself with a deep loathing that he knew would never leave as he took in the horrified expression on Grace's face. He desperately wanted to swallow the words back down as if he'd never said them. He wanted to take her and hold her close to him, but he would never be able to do that now.

"Right. It's never your fault," Grace replied quietly. "You can't think of a good justification for the repulsive way you behaved tonight so you're trying to throw the same thing back on me."

"Grace—"

"No. Now you know. Now you know why I won't speak to my father, why I don't go home. And you know what, I know I've done some shitty things. I don't claim to be the best agent. I don't try to act like I've saved the world because I'm not, and I haven't. Yes, I was the only agent who returned from those missions. Yes, I ran as soon as I'd taken down the target. But that's what I do. SHIELD doesn't call me in for offensive missions; they call me in for _defensive_ missions. I don't attack until I'm attacked first, and I always walk out alive _after _I've destroyed the target. I'm a selfish person. I won't stand here and deny it, Tony, but I don't recklessly do what I want despite the fact that it destroys the people I care about. God, survival skills are not just about self-preservation, ok? Survival skills are about showing the person you love that you love them enough to come back to them."

Grace ran both hands through her hair.

"Grace—"

"No, Tony. Stop."

"Grace, I'm sorry," Tony pleaded. "Please, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I mean, yes, I did check up on you the night that you came here, but I didn't mean the rest of what I said."

Grace sniffed, and she looked up at him and shook her head.

"What are you sorry for, Tony? Are you sorry that you made yourself look like a fucking asshole at your own birthday party? Are you sorry that you brought up my past to hurt me? Or maybe, are you sorry for fighting with your best friend in front of your party guests? What are you apologizing for? Tell me," she said calmly.

Tony had lost. He knew it. He stood still, hopelessly looking at her.

"Everything," he said softly.

"I'm not doing this anymore," Grace said, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head as if she were apologizing for something that she was confused about. The pain wrapped around her heart like a vice. Tears were burning behind her eyelids, but she willed herself not to cry in front of him. She closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly, and then she opened them to face the man in front of her.

"What do you mean?" he asked, panic edging into his voice. Grace firmly and evenly stared at him.

"When I wake up tomorrow, I'm going to call Fury, and I'm going to ask to be reassigned," she said without a quiver in her voice. Tony gaped at her. The gravity of her words sank into his chest, and he felt an intense tightness being inside his own skin.

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me," Grace said. She walked past him to the door. "I'm asking to be reassigned. I have to go to bed, Tony. I can't stay here anymore. I can't."

She gazed at him, her amber eyes leading Tony to believe that she wasn't meaning what she was saying, but then, without another word, she walked out the door and shut it behind her. He heard the door next to his room open and shut. Just like that, Grace Marks was gone.

Tony stood still. Again, he wondered if this were really happening. Surely she hadn't just left him.

"Jarvis," he said slowly. "Did that just happen?"

"Yes, sir, I'm afraid it did," the artificial intelligence replied.

"What am I going to do?" Tony asked, more to himself than to Jarvis.

"Sir, it appears that you cannot do anything," Jarvis answered.

Jarvis's words hit him heavily. Tony slowly crossed to his bed and sat down. It felt as though his heart had come up into his throat, and he was having a hard time swallowing it back down again. He finally lay down, realizing how empty and alone his bed was without Grace in it. He thought about her lying down in her bed and going to sleep without him, and he felt an intense pull in his chest. He winced at the force of it and closed his eyes. He closed his eyes, and he tried to consider the possibility of surviving in a world without Agent Grace Marks. And that's when it hit him: he didn't know how to survive at all.


	19. Donuts

**Sending love to my fabulous ThePenThatIsMightier97, Avengerlicious, Uruvia, MsRose91, and peachy34!**

**Uruvia: Thank you for taking the time to review! I'm glad that there was a shocker chapter in there for you ;) I hoped Grace's decision would be enough to shock some people! As for frequent updates, I try to update as frequently as I can because I DEFINITELY know what it's like when there's a story I'm addicted to, but the author takes a while to update it, and I'm just on the edge of my seat like, "ARE YOU SERIOUS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME." Haha! Thank you again for the kind words =)**

**peachy34: I'm trying to update every one or two days. I'm generally busy during the day so I have to update relatively late at night, but on top of that, I'm battling a nasty eye infection, and that makes it hard to read the screen when I type because my vision is incredibly blurry :/ It's not very fun, so I'm trying to keep pushing myself to write and get this finished up! I don't want to go more than 2 days without posting so I'm trying to be as consistent as possible while struggling with this damn eye infection =)**

* * *

Chapter 19

Grace's old room at SHIELD headquarters still had all the things that she hadn't taken to Tony's. Her fluffy light purple comforter was still in place as was the black shag rug that she'd had ever since she'd come to SHIELD. Her closet and drawers were shut, exactly the way she liked them. Grace felt oddly relieved to be back in her room in her usual surroundings. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed it until she walked through the door and found her things lying right where she'd left them before she had departed to the Stark Mansion.

The Stark Mansion. Grace had had a hard time leaving; she'd gotten especially tearful over saying goodbye to Jarvis. Even though her heart desperately wanted her to run through Tony's door and ask him to tell her to stay, she walked out the door without saying goodbye, instead telling Jarvis to let him know of her departure when Tony woke up. She blinked, pushing all thoughts of Tony out of her head. She couldn't do that right now; thinking of him was far too painful to deal with at the moment.

She checked the time on her phone: 7:58. She wouldn't be able to bond with her room as much as she wanted to; she had a meeting with Fury at 8. Quickly, she left her room and stalked down the halls to Fury's lair, feeling peacefully at home amongst the clean, sharp halls of Headquarters. This was her element. Her shoulders squared off more as she reacquainted herself with the familiar corridors. She'd been living there for the past 6 years, and she knew it inside and out. Well, the parts that her clearances gave her allowance into.

She slowed the smallest degree as she passed Natasha's room, wondering what Tony was doing. He was probably still sleeping. If he didn't have to wake up yet, he wouldn't. She pictured him lying on his side, his hair sticking up crazily and the light of his arc reactor shining through his shirt. The pain was too much to bear. She'd basically spent the whole night before crying. No matter how much she'd told herself she wouldn't cry as she left Tony's room, as soon as the door to her own door had shut, she'd burst into tears. She swallowed hard at the memory and wiped it out of her head as she reached Fury's door.

"Come in, Agent Marks," Fury called out. He always seemed to know who was right outside his door without the person having to knock. Grace opened the door and found Fury standing and looking at some holograms of something. She walked into the room.

"Sir," she said. Fury turned briefly so that his good eye studied her.

"Agent Marks. Have a seat," he said. Grace sat and quietly waited for Fury to attend to her. Fury often got mixed up in handling other affairs, and she was used to waiting for him to reach a good stopping point before continuing his meeting with her. She was nervous. Hell, that was an understatement. She was terrified. She had called him that morning demanding to be reassigned because she couldn't do it. He'd been quiet for a few moments, scaring Grace into thinking that he'd insist she stay, but he'd surprisingly agreed to let her leave. She just had to have a debriefing with him.

Her heart was thumping in her chest, and Grace imagined an energizer bunny hyped up on caffeine rapidly kicking her heart. What was she even thinking? She quickly cleared her mind. When she was nervous, her imagination ran wild, and she wound up thinking stupid thoughts such as the energizer bunny.

Fury turned to face her. He folded his arms sternly, and Grace knew she was in trouble.

"Agent Marks, I've heard some things about this whole monitoring situation that don't make me very happy. Then this morning I got a phone call from you asking to be reassigned, and that only leads me to believe that the unpleasant things I've heard about you are true. Now I'm going to let you give me your side of the story because I'm a nice guy. Please. Take it away," he said. Grace cleared her throat.

"Sir, the thing that happened in Monaco was entirely my fault because I didn't follow Mr. Stark into the re—"

"I ain't talkin' about that," Fury interrupted. "I'm talking about you locking lips with the dude."

Natasha.

"Yes, sir," Grace answered. Fury raised his eyebrows at her, waiting for her to say something. She didn't answer. He continued to stare at her.

"I'm waiting, Marks," he said.

"As it so happened, I did kiss Mr. Stark, but the kiss wasn't a reason for my request of reassignment," she said.

"Then would you like to explain why you no longer want to work in the Stark Mansion?" Fury sounded tired, as if he were dealing with a five year old. Grace willed her face not to turn red; she hated being spoken to like a little kid, and Fury knew it, and he was trying to specifically push her buttons.

"I requested a reassignment because Mr. Stark continued his self-destructive behaviors, and he wasn't listening to anything I was saying. He tricked me in Monaco, refused to tell me his blood toxicity level, and then he completely destroyed his own party last night. That's why I want a transfer," she said flatly. "There was no relationship of any kind between Mr. Stark and myself."

"No relationship? At all?" Fury asked. Grace looked him straight in the eye.

"None at all."

Fury regarded her for a moment with his eye. He knew that she was a capable agent. She'd proven that many times in the past during training and then on her three missions. She was the perfect picture of professionalism; she never got caught up into anything sticky, and she came back alive. That was the most important thing to Fury: survival.

Grace was assigned the most dangerous missions because she would not allow herself to die. He could rely on her to take down the target and come back alive if no one else did, and that was why she'd only been assigned three missions. She had been the only person who was able to destroy the enemy and walk away. The path hadn't always been easy, he thought. When Grace had come to SHIELD after she'd escaped from her captors in South America, she'd been a bundle of snapped wires, taking any kind of approach as an attack. For months she'd been kept away in a separate part of Headquarters because she needed to come out of her survival mode.

It made sense really; she'd been held at gunpoint for a few years by these men. They'd killed her colleagues and her professor. Of course she felt as though she were still in danger. It had taken time, but she'd slowly, surely calmed down enough to begin training. Training had been a whole other hell to deal with because she'd had to learn how to fight her initial instincts of simply turning and running. Simple training exercises became dangerous for the trainers, and Grace would often have to be tranquilized to keep her from killing her trainer.

SHIELD had had to teach her how to assess what was a lethal threat and what was a threat that she could handle before ditching. Then her training had proceeded into destroying the enemy and then ditching. Before long, Grace had morphed into the agent that she was today, the agent who could control herself in battle without leaving her fellow agents for dead. The agent who could walk away from any mission alive.

Fury knew that Grace was a good agent, one of his best aside from Romanoff who had a different set of equally valuable skills. Grace was strong, and yet he had received that phone call from her asking for a transfer. He frowned at her.

"You ain't done with Tony yet," he said.

"Excuse me?" Grace asked, her voice rising in pitch only the slightest bit. Surely Fury wasn't going to send her back. There was no way that she could do it.

"Don't give me that look. You won't be monitoring him. I'll explain in the car. Anyway, I'm placing you on partial restriction because you kissed the bastard. The only reason I'm not placing you on full restriction is because I feel a little worried about your mental health after being around the bastard 24/7. Are we clear?" Fury asked solidly.

"Yes, sir."

"Come on, Agent. We've got somewhere to go. Do you like donuts?"

* * *

"He's going to shit when he sees you," Natasha said mildly as she finished confirming the placements of the other agents. "He's been locked up in his lab ever since Jarvis announced that you'd left."

"He still hasn't picked up on your scent yet?" Grace asked, changing the subject and double-checking Natasha's placements. She was glad to be back with her friend, even if they were still doing stuff that involved Tony Stark.

"Of course not," Natasha scoffed. "I'm a pro at this, remember? Besides, Stark wouldn't be able to sniff me out if you put a spotlight on me and a pointer in his hand."

"I'm on partial restriction," Grace finally admitted. She was thrilled that she wasn't on full restriction, a punishment that she thought she'd definitely be receiving, but she was only thankful that Fury had been in a good mood.

"Not bad, Marks," Natasha responded with a grin. "You know, it's a good thing you left, though. Don't think I'm stupid; I know exactly what you and Stark were up to."

"I figured."

"You're just lucky I didn't tell Fury."

"I know."

"Hey, you know I'm messing with you, right? You look like a disaster," Natasha said, her voice softening. Grace briefly glanced at her and nodded, pasting on a watery smile for the redheaded agent.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We should probably go tell Fury that we've taken care of everything," she said, again changing the subject. Natasha studied her, and then she finally nodded, her red curls bouncing around her.

Grace and Natasha walked at an even pace into the room. They were both dressed in their SHIELD suits. Grace was glad to be back in it because she disliked having to pick out clothes every day. It was much simpler to just wear the standard black suit. Besides, it was easy to do anything in, particularly fight.

Tony looked like shit. She noticed it as soon as she walked into the room. He was sitting at the booth across from Fury in his Iron man suit, and he looked severely hung over. The initial things about him that caught her eye were his sunglasses and his tousled hair. Despite how awful and banged up his face looked, his demeanor and attitude was still Stark: sunglasses and hair. Her first instinct was to turn and run from the room, but she swallowed the dry lump in her throat and kept pushing forward, matching her pace to Natasha's.

"We've secured the perimeter, but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer," Natasha said. Tony's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. He glanced over the tops of his sunglasses to get a good look at Natasha.

"Huh," he said. "You're f-fired."

"That's not up to you," Natasha answered as Fury snickered. Tony's attention suddenly turned to Grace. He felt something welling up inside of him, and he held his breath. She looked great in that black suit. She wasn't looking at him, but he desperately wanted her to look at him.

"My assistant and my babysitter," he murmured loud enough for everyone to hear. Natasha slid into the booth next to Tony, much to Grace's relief, and Grace took the seat beside Fury. She and Natasha exchanged a discreet look before directing their attention back to the task at hand.

"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff," Fury said good naturedly.

"Hi," Tony said sharply.

"I'm a SHIELD shadow," Natasha explained. "Once we knew you were ill, Agent Marks and I were tasked to you by Director Fury."

"I had two SHIELD agents in my house, and I had no idea this whole time. I thought there was only one," Tony said, staring significantly at Grace. Waves of that same pain he'd felt moments before were crashing over him again, but he fought it down. He wasn't going to lose it. He turned his attention back to Natasha.

"I suggest you apologize," he said smartly.

"You've been very busy from what Agent Marks has told me," Fury interjected. "You made your former assistant CEO, you're giving all your stuff away, you're kissing on your babysitter. You let your friend fly away with your suit! Now, if I didn't know better—"

"You don't know better," Tony interrupted irritatedly. "I didn't give it to him. He took it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Fury said, clearly enjoying himself. "He _took _it? You're _Iron Man_, and he just _took _it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass, and took your suit? Is that possible?" With that last question, he turned to Grace, acting completely oblivious to the exhausted look on Tony's face.

"Well, according to Mr. Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage," Grace answered calmly. Fury held up his hands in a see-I-thought-so manner. Grace stared back at Tony as he glared at her. He looked back at Fury.

"What do you want from _me_?" he asked resigned. The tone of his voice broke Grace's heart because she knew from the sound of it that he'd basically given up. He was no longer fighting, no longer giving them a hard time. He was giving in, going so far as to ask what they wanted from him. She closed her eyes for a few seconds to control the painful swell in her chest.

"What do we want from you? Nuh, uh, uh. What do _you_ want from _me_?" Fury asked, turning the question back on Tony. Grace's heart lifted a little as she realized what was coming next. Fury was here because he was going to give Tony hints about the Expo model. She kept her facial expression calm and blank, but inside she was dancing. She'd never had any doubt that Fury would tell Tony in order to keep the genius alive, but 89% was a scary number, and Tony was coming down to the home stretch.

Natasha got up and walked away, taking her cue. Grace felt relief creep into her body. Finally, something was being done.

"_You_ have become a problem," Fury said bluntly, "a problem_ I_ have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are _not_ the center of my universe—"

"Yeah, I get it," Tony intoned irritatedly.

"I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with," Fury snapped, finishing his statement.

"I get it," Tony repeated, propping his head in his hand. What was he even doing there anyway, he wondered to himself. Getting donuts didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

"Hit him," Fury said, snapping his fingers at Natasha who had returned with the needle. Lightning quick, Natasha jabbed the needle into the side of Tony's neck. Tony let out a shocked sound of pain and jolted backwards.

"Oh, God, are you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?" he demanded. "Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds?"

He eyed Agent Romanoff who was examining his face for any additional signs that she needed to be aware of. Grace saw the black veins on his neck retreating back down beneath his collar, and she silently breathed out a sigh that she didn't even know she'd been holding. Tony caught her looking at him, and she didn't look away, instead choosing to keep her steady gaze on him. She knew it made him uncomfortable, and that's the effect that she wanted.

"What did she just do to me?" Tony asked, directing his question to Fury as Natasha settled into the booth next to him.

"What did we just do _for_ you," Fury corrected. "That's lithium dioxide. It's gonna take the edge off. We're trying to get you back to work. In fact, that's what Agent Marks was trying to do until she got fed up with your childish antics and decided that she'd had enough of you."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, hurt struck Tony's face. He looked back at Grace. Her amber eyes were devoid of any kind of emotion. Of course. He shouldn't have expected to find anything from her; she never let him in on what she was thinking. Tony wanted her to say something, but she kept her fixed gaze on him. He finally felt uncomfortable and looked back at Fury.

"Give me a couple boxes of that; I'll be right as rain," he mumbled.

"It's not a cure. It just abates the symptoms," Grace spoke up. He didn't look at her again.

"Doesn't look like it's gonna be an easy fix," Fury said as he leaned to the side to check out Tony's neck.

"Trust me, I know. I'm good at this stuff." Tony sobered up, directly facing Tony and the gravity of the situation at hand. "I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium. I've tried every combination, every _permutation _of every known element."

The only other time that Grace had seen Tony this down to business and serious was in Monaco when he had confronted Ivan Vanko in that cell. He had looked strong and healthy then, well, at least _healthier_. Now he looked like a man who had given up, which was what he was: a man who couldn't find the answers.

A smile played at the corners of Fury's eyes.

"Well, I'm here to tell you you haven't tried them all," he said. Tony frowned.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Before we get into this, might I suggest that we relocate because our position is becoming more difficult to hold," Natasha spoke up. Fury nodded sharply.

"Right you are. Well, Tony, your mansion is in shambles, but it's the best that we've got. Let's go."

As Grace piled into the backseat of Fury's car with Natasha, she watched the sky as Tony blasted away back to his mansion. She'd asked to be transferred so she wouldn't have to deal with Tony Stark anymore, and yet she found herself being transported back to the Stark Mansion after having sat for a fair amount of time looking at Tony and pretending that she hadn't spent very intimate times with him. She wondered how she got herself into these messes, but she knew the answer wouldn't be there. She wouldn't be able to answer what she was doing any better than she could answer the question she'd been asking herself ever since she'd gone back to her room last night and sobbed for hours: What next?

She had no idea what she was going to do next, and she had to resign herself to that fact in the backseat of Nick Fury's black car as he sped away to the Stark Mansion. So she pulled herself up straight, cleared her face of any emotions, hardened her eyes, and told herself that she didn't feel anything. She felt nothing.


	20. Safety

**Many thank yous to Avengerlicious, Malalab, and MsRose91 for the reviews! Woohoo, keep 'em coming, guys! Also thank you for the get well wishes on my eye infection! It's slowly but surely clearing up =)**

**Alright, we're getting down to the home stretch here. I'm hoping within the next 4 chapters to get this wrapped up, and then we'll be on the Captain America/OC story. I was originally planning on it to be mainly Captain America/OC, but I've decided that Grace and Tony will be more heavily involved in that story so that there'll be more of a solid transition between this story and then my Avengers sequel that I'm doing. (My Avengers sequel will be told like, 95% of the time by Grace and Tony just like this one is!) Btw, I'm possibly considering writing the Avengers sequel in first person. Let me know if you want me to continue writing in third person like I am in this story, or if you'd like the Avengers to be told directly from Grace and Tony's points of view. Leave reviews, y'all!**

* * *

Chapter 20

Grace and Natasha stood unseen in what remained of the foyer of Tony Stark's mansion as they listened to Nick Fury tell Tony that the billionaire was basically on house arrest with some momentos from his dad until Fury said otherwise. When Grace, Natasha, and Fury had arrived, Grace had been thrilled to see Agent Coulson waiting for them. Apparently, he was assigned to keep an eye on Tony and make sure he didn't have any contact with the outside world or leave the mansion. Grace was only glad that she wasn't the one in charge of it, and she felt her heart break a little as she realized that she would no longer be with Tony.

Natasha sighed.

"You're lucky to be out of here," she bemoaned.

"I guess so," Grace replied. "I'm just glad that Tony's got the materials now to figure out the truth about the Expo model. Now maybe he won't kick the bucket."

"You're in love with the guy, and you can still keep a sense of humor about his death," Natasha mused. Grace turned and stared at her viciously.

"I'm not in love with him," she protested. Natasha scoffed, grinning at the other SHIELD agent.

"Please, I'm not stupid. I can read people just as well as you can, and I can tell a woman in love from a thousand miles away," she said. Grace continued to glare at her.

"Well, you're wrong," she said lamely, disappointed at her lack of a good comeback. Surely Natasha was wrong. Yes, Grace would admit that she had some very strong feelings for Tony Stark, feelings that overwhelmed her by the power they possessed. She'd never felt this way before, as cliché as it sounded. It just wasn't like her to be so taken in, especially by a player like Tony.

"I mean, I haven't been observing you for God knows how long," Natasha quipped in response. Grace rolled her eyes.

"Just be glad that I tolerate you enough to not beat the shit out of you right now," she answered.

"You couldn't beat the shit out of me," Natasha teased. "You wouldn't attack me until I attacked you."

"Well, that's true," Grace conceded. Natasha had a point; Grace had been honest when she'd told Tony that she was a defensive fighter. Her brain wasn't programmed to make the first move because that wasn't in her survival instinct. She would only attack once she was attacked. Natasha, however, was the exact opposite. Natasha was offensive to the extreme, a skill that was good for the redhead. She was just as good at what she did as Grace was in her field. They had two different styles of fighting, and they'd often trained together because they were opposites that fit well into learning off of each other. Natasha had also been one of the only agents at SHIELD who had felt that she could take Grace if Grace were to ever lose control in the middle of a sparring session.

"It's also true that you're in love with Tony," Natasha said nonchalantly. Grace went to retort, but Fury suddenly walked in, causing her to snap her mouth shut and draw to attention. Fury hadn't noticed what they'd been talking about, thankfully, instead looking sternly at Grace with his one eye.

"Stark wants to have a word with you," he said. Grace raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Are you deaf? Stark wants to have a word with you. He asked for privacy and shit," Fury snapped. "Get your ass in there."

Natasha subtly cleared her throat, urging Grace to take a step forward. As she passed by Fury, she tried to look as innocent as possible. Her heart was pounding in her chest at the thought of being alone with Tony once more. Again, she noted the irony of the fact that she had asked to get _away _from Tony, and here she was still being forced to interact with him. Fate was secretly looking for any way possible to fuck her six ways till Sunday.

She walked out into what remained of the living room, the wall blasted away so that a pleasing view of the ocean greeted her. Memories of the night before came back to her in a rush, as if blood were rushing into her head. She remembered the anger, frustration, and humiliation she'd felt as she'd watched Tony get his ass beaten by Rhodey.

Tony was standing by the case of Howard Stark's things that Fury had left behind for him to look at. He turned over his shoulder and saw her. It was strange seeing Grace in her SHIELD uniform; he was so accustomed to seeing her in every day clothes that he'd forgotten she was an agent. Sure, she'd reminded him with every other sentence that she was there on a job, but she certainly looked the part as she stood there in front of him. Her long brown hair was pulled into a ponytail so it wouldn't fall in her face, and she was pulled to her full height. Her amber eyes were blank and expressionless as she waited for him to say something. She looked so at home there in his living room, even if she were dressed in a SHIELD uniform and even if his living room were in shambles.

"No note?" Tony asked, attempting to play at humor. Instead, he sounded desperate and slightly heartbroken. He cleared his throat, hoping that the sound came across as manly and in control of his emotions.

"I thought that that'd be the easiest way," Grace replied rationally. She seemed to look through him instead of at him. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he realized that he was clenching his hands together. He cleared his throat again.

"Having Jarvis tell me that you were gone isn't the most romantic of goodbyes," he said, surprising himself with his own statement. He hadn't intended to express any feelings of hurt to her, and yet here he was sounding hurt. Ironic, considering all the women that had been in his position, he thought.

"This isn't exactly romance," Grace answered, her voice the same level rational tone. Tony crossed his arms, and he walked towards her. He wanted to provoke a reaction from her, but she still held her blank face, only gazing at him as he approached her.

"So you mean to tell me that this hasn't been romance?" he asked. His brown eyes burned into her amber ones, and she was left without words. She studied him for a few moments, silently wondering how to respond to him. Again, this was a first for her; Agent Grace Marks was rarely without words. Anyone could attest to that. Yet Tony Stark had been making comments ever since day one that had left her with no idea how to comment back.

"This is a very messed up idea of romance," she finally said.

"How is it messed up?" Tony asked.

"For starters, I work for a top secret branch of the government, and I met you because that top secret branch of the government assigned me to watch your self-destructive tendencies," she said, a hint of amusement almost creeping into her voice.

"So it's more like a silver screen romance," Tony said without pausing a beat or blinking his eyes. "Movies are very unrealistic. Look at _Titanic_. They fell in love in like, two days, and then Leo DiCaprio died to save some girl he'd met two days before."

"_Titanic _is a classic," Grace replied sharply. Tony smirked slightly at her. For a moment, it felt like they were back to their usual banter. Tony's chest ached as he remembered that they weren't just hanging out together in his lab, shooting the shit and talking about anything and everything. They were in his damaged living room talking about why she'd left.

"So we'll make our story a classic," he said seriously. Grace flattened her mouth into a thin, straight line as her gaze bored into him.

"What are you trying to do?" she whispered quietly. An edge of pain had crept into her voice despite how hard she'd tried to keep it out. But as she stood so close to him and could see directly into his eyes, she found her control getting harder to maintain.

"I want you to come back," Tony said. "I won't do anything stupid. I've learned my lesson, and I should've the first time after I slipped away from you in Monaco. Come back."

The low warmth of his voice surrounded Grace as if she were in a cocoon. She closed her eyes, letting the smooth melody of it nestle deep into her brain. She easily could've listened to Tony talk for hours. In fact, she'd done it many times down in Tony's lab when he'd been working. There had been times when he'd gone off on crazy rants, suddenly getting an idea for something, and he'd ramble about it Jarvis. It wasn't uncommon for Tony to talk about four different ideas all at once, spewing them out without specifying which project he was adding details to. She'd loved sitting in the lab listening to him work, his voice flowing so easily and smoothly out of him as his brain churned out more ideas.

She swallowed hard.

"I can't," she said. "I'm needed back at Headquarters. Besides, I'm on partial restriction."

Tony frowned.

"Partial restriction?" he asked.

"Yeah. Natasha told Fury about us kissing, and he put me on partial restriction. Basically means I have desk duty for the next two weeks," she answered softly. Tony tilted his head to the side, and Grace saw a thousand thoughts run through his brain, each of them ending with him kissing her. She looked away from him, unsettled by the emotions in his eyes.

"So you're just going to leave. As if this whole thing didn't happen." Tony wanted to kill himself as he heard how truly desperate he sounded. God, this wasn't like him. He wasn't the kind to get torn up because a girl he liked wouldn't stay with him. He was usually the one pushing them away. He swallowed to keep control, staring intensely at the small SHIELD agent in front of him.

"As far as Fury's considered, it didn't happen," Grace said harshly. "We're lucky that Natasha didn't tell him the whole truth."

"Can you honestly look me in the eye and say that everything that's happened didn't actually happen? If you can 100% honestly tell me that you aren't as fucked up as I am over your transfer out of here, then I won't take up any more of your time," Tony said urgently. Grace inwardly winced as she took in the minor panic that had settled into his warm brown eyes. What she really wanted to do was grab his face and press her mouth against his roughly and passionately. She wanted to fist his hair through her fingers and force her tongue into his mouth. She wanted him to hold her and stroke her hair the way he did after they'd had sex and were about to fall asleep. She loved when he did that; she never felt safer and more protected than when he gently ran his hand over her hair until she drifted off.

"I can't do this," she said quietly.

"Yes, you can, Grace. You're just choosing not to," Tony said. "Answer the question."

If she said that she wasn't torn up over leaving him, she would be lying. On the other hand, she would be saving herself heartache. She knew that any kind of relationship with Tony Stark would lead to heartache of some kind, even if it was just loving him. Not that Grace loved him or anything. Grace didn't love him. But _if _she loved him, it would be a whole lot of heartache, and she'd have to explain to Fury all kinds of embarrassing things, including a dismissal of the phone call she'd placed to him that morning.

If she said that she _was _torn up over leaving him, she would admit that she felt a lot more for him than she really did. Because she didn't love him. She didn't. Grace didn't get caught up in romance. There was no way that she loved Tony Stark. None at all.

Yet her body seemed to move without permission from her brain. Her hand reached out and touched his face. His eyes closed at her touch, and he turned his head a little into her palm, his lips grazing the heel of her hand. The softness and the warmth of his lips made Grace choke on her own breathing.

"I can't, Tony," she whispered. His eyes opened, and he met her straight on with his fierce gaze.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, and Grace knew that he meant it. He was sorry for everything, and he didn't need to specify what he was apologizing for because Grace knew. She could see everything that he was apologizing for in the depth of the pain in his eyes, pain that she so desperately wanted to get rid of. Never before had he looked so much like a little boy who only wanted to be comforted. A deep yearning to pull him into her and cradle him against her welled in her chest, but she didn't do what she wanted to do.

Instead, Agent Grace Marks pulled her hand away and turned away from him. It was as she was walking off, one foot in front of the other, the weight of her legs seeming to drag her into the floor, that she realized she loved him. She loved Tony Stark. She was in love with Tony Stark, and that was why every heavily weighted step she took felt like she was walking away from what her heart wanted most because that was what she was doing; she was walking away from the one thing she wanted most, and that was safety. Tony Stark was the safety that she'd been looking for for all those years. He was that feeling she'd been craving, the feeling she'd been missing, and the realization of this hit her like a thousand bricks. He was safety, and she loved him.

* * *

Tony Stark sat by himself in his lab as he sorted through the things in his dad's belongings. His lab was distinctly different without Grace sitting with him and talking to him, working with him. But he wasn't giving up that easily. He could take a no for an answer, but when he'd seen the look in Grace's eyes, he knew that he couldn't just let her go. He wasn't going to let the one real thing he'd ever known get away from him when that look of pain had crossed her face, letting him in to know what she was thinking. No. He was going to win her back.


	21. Declaration

**Many shoutouts to xxLiveLoveReadxx, Avengerlicious, MsRose91, TEENWOLFISAWESOME, ThePenThatIsMightier97, hockeygurl39, Guest, Re-Animated, akt15, and peachy34!**

**Oh my goodness, I am so sorry for how long it's taken me to update this. I had no idea where to go next with it, and I had to take a few days to figure out what I wanted to do. Hopefully I'll be wrapping this up in the next four chapters. I'm going to try to skip more movie scenes and keep focusing on what happens "in between" with Grace and Tony (or Trace as their couple name seems to be ;)). The final fight scene will definitely be included, though.**

**Thanks for the well wishes on the eye infection, too! Slowly but surely healing, thanks to the miracle drops that my eye doctor gave me! Hope y'all like this chapter. Again, I'm sorry about delaying this update. I will be updating at my usual pace again after this!**

* * *

Chapter 21

Tony was emotionally drained. Not only had he been forced to deal with Grace's sudden departure, but he had been left with his father's belongings to peruse while he was on house arrest. He had just watched a confusing clip that his father had left behind for him, his father ending the film by telling Tony that he was Howard's greatest creation.

It wasn't much, but it was more than Tony had ever received from Howard when Howard had been alive, and it pained Tony to know that he'd have to accept being called a creation because that was the most that he would ever get from his father. Tony allowed his mind to wander to what Grace would've done had she been there to see the clip with him. She would've held him and rubbed his back. He loved when she did that. He felt like someone cared about him enough to want to take care of him, and despite the independence he had established for himself, he loved feeling taken care of.

It was time for a break.

"Jarvis, bring up everything you can find on Agent Grace Marks," he said abruptly.

"Sir, stalking is a felony," Jarvis answered drily. Tony rolled his eyes at the artificial intelligence.

"I'm not stalking Agent Marks, Jarvis," he replied.

"I'll be pulling up basically everything there is to know about her, and I think that that counts as stalking," Jarvis said. Tony sighed in exasperation.

"If you must know, I'm trying to win her back," he said.

"Sir, are you feeling all right? You appear to be showing abnormal behavior. I suggest that you allow me to run a diagnostic on you," Jarvis replied. Tony glared at the ceiling of his lab, unsure of where exactly Jarvis was but completely sure of the fact that Jarvis could see his fierce scowl.

"Just bring up all the information you can on Agent Marks," he repeated slowly.

Instantly, all kinds of information popped up in front of him. Tony recognized bits and pieces of headlines and articles that he'd looked over the night that Grace had arrived. This time he was going to go over everything slowly. One article that stuck out to him was a report of Grace's escape from captivity. He had always known that Grace had been in captive, but the realization that they had that in common struck him particularly hard at that moment.

He had never asked Grace for details of what had happened to her in South America. He knew firsthand that no one wanted to relive those moments. He'd never told anyone about what he'd gone through over in Afghanistan; it was no one's business. Yet he and Grace were both bonded by this mutual horror. He also figured that it was why Grace slept so carefully next to him. Whenever she rested her head on his chest, she would position herself so that she wasn't holding him down, trapping him against the bed. He'd picked up on this, and he'd taken care to position himself around her so that he would never trap her down, either. It came from being in captivity; the feeling of being bound stuck with you.

Tony read over articles, SHIELD files, everything he could find until he knew the SHIELD agent inside out. There were tons of videos of her training at SHIELD. Curious, Tony clicked on one. He immediately regretted it.

The video showed a newly escaped Grace cowering in a corner, looking crazed and panicked, desperate to get away from the SHIELD agents who were gently and quietly talking to her. She looked more like a wild animal than a human being. Tony stared, his eyes wide at the image of the SHIELD agent who looked so unfamiliar all of a sudden. She looked nothing like the woman he had developed such feelings for. The woman he had seen earlier that day looked strong and healthy. The woman on the screen looked like a starved, abused dog. Suddenly, on-screen Grace reached out and had grabbed one of the agents, and she began attacking the woman.

"Exit," Tony said quickly, not wanting to see what happened in the video.

"Sir, perhaps this isn't a good idea," Jarvis interrupted.

"Jarvis, I need to get out of here. How mad is Pepper with me?" Tony asked.

"She's quite angry, sir."

"Thought so. Alright. Looks like it's time to go pay her a visit."

"Sir, I have the feeling that you are planning on doing more than apologizing to her," the artificial intelligence suggested.

"Yes, Jarvis, I'm going to tell her that I'm on the verge of dying, and I'm going to ask her how Agent Marks is and what she suggests in order to get Grace to want to come back," Tony explained.

"Consulting women is a smart idea, sir," Jarvis answered, and Tony wasn't sure if the A.I. were being snarky or not so he let the comment slide. Besides, he had shit to do.

* * *

After 90 seconds in Pepper's office, Tony knew that he wasn't going to get very much accomplished. So far, he had managed to insult her by bringing her strawberries, a fruit that she was very allergic to, and he had basically told her that he hated her desk decoration, but God, it was fucking distracting. She hadn't yet noticed the strawberries, but he knew that as soon as she did, it would be over. He glared at the offensive strawberries sitting on the desk, cursing the fact that they were there in plain sight and would be too obvious if he went to remove them.

"Do you know how short life is?" he asked. Pepper stared at him with a slightly bored but tolerant expression on her face, the kind of look that adults give to kids when they feel that they have to let the kid try to defend himself but basically has no excuse for whatever shitty thing he just pulled.

"Tony, you fucked up," Pepper said simply. Tony was surprised that she'd given him some kind bone to go on. He stared at her, and she stared back at him. He was ironically aware of the fact that he was in a similar situation with Pepper that he was usually in with Grace; they were staring each other down without saying a word. Tony finally sighed.

"I know," he said. "I fucked up on a thousand different levels, but I'm trying to fix that."

"You can't," Pepper said shortly.

"What do you mean I can't?" Tony asked.

"You can't fix things because I'm the one doing all the fixing," Pepper said, her voice almost pleasant. "You're off doing God knows what, and I'm here taking the heat for everything you've done because you don't know how to fix your own messy situations."

"But I'm _trying_," Tony stressed. "I'm trying to fix what I've fucked up, but how can I do that if you don't let me?"

"Tony, for years I would see you go through some kind of hardship, and you'd look like you were going to change for the better because of it, and each time I was wrong. I really thought that with Grace being here, you might be different, but you proved me wrong with everything you did last night, ok? Grace was actually really good for you; I don't know if you know that."

Tony was silent at Pepper's words.

"I know," he said quietly. "That's why I'm trying to fix this."

"Tony, she's not going to change her mind. She's off doing her real job, something you should learn to do," Pepper said. "I am trying to run a company. Do you have any idea what that entails?"

"Yes," Tony answered, feeling her scolding.

"People are relying on you to be Iron Man, and you've disappeared, and all I'm doing is putting out your fires and taking the heat for it."

The pen that Tony had been playing with as he suffered her lecture rolled out of his hands and into Pepper's. He cautiously glanced up and saw the fiery anger in her eyes.

"I am trying to do the job that _you_ were meant to do," she said evenly and carefully. Tony again looked away, trying to appear busy with something else.

"Did you bring me strawberries?" Pepper asked, her voice lowering into a deathly tone. Tony knew he was in for it. "Did you know there's only one thing on Earth that I'm allergic to?"

"Allergic to," Tony interrupted. "Strawberries. Mmhmm."

He risked another glance up at Pepper and found her smiling thinly at him with a very unhappy expression on her face. He felt his shoulders sag in defeat.

"This is progress, Pepper," he said defensively. "I knew there was a correlation between you and this."

"I need you to leave," Pepper said quietly and firmly. Tony's resignation showed plainly on his face, and Pepper knew she was being harsh, but she was done. She held his gaze, showing that she meant business. The hurt was evident in Tony's eyes. The last person that he thought would turn him away was basically turning him away.

"Miss Potts?" A voice rang out.

"Hi. Come on in," Pepper answered smoothly. Tony turned to look at the source of the voice and found that it was coming from Natasha. He felt a small sense of hope surge through him as he saw her. All he had to do was talk to her.

"Are you blending in well here, Natalie? Here at Stark Interprises?" he asked, clearing his throat. The look that Natasha gave him could've gutted him, and he realized that he was enjoying himself. "Your name is Natalie, isn't it?"

Natasha's responsive look was enough to make him feel pleased with himself. He was feeling a little bit like an asshole after Pepper's description of him. If she thought so badly of him, he might as well own up to it.

"I thought you two didn't get along," he said innocently, feigning confusion.

"No, that's not so," Pepper responded cheerfully.

"It's just me you don't care for," Tony answered. No response. "No? Nothing."

"Actually, while you're here, maybe you and Natalie could discuss the matter of the personal belongings," Pepper said. Tony's shit had been clogging up her office for the past week, and Pepper Potts was a woman of organization. The last thing she needed was Tony Stark's clutter mocking her in the corner.

"Absolutely," Natasha replied efficiently. Tony managed not to vomit as Pepper walked out of the room. He followed her with his eyes, wondering what kind of stick had gone up her ass.

"I'm surprised you could keep your mouth shut," Natasha spat. Tony swiveled in his chair back to face her.

"Boy, you're good," he said instantly, actually feeling genuinely impressed. "You are _mind-blowingly _duplicitious. How do you do it? You just tear things…you're a triple imposter. I've never seen anything like you. Is there anything real about you? Do you even speak Latin? Can all SHIELD agents do this?"

Natasha raised her eyebrows at him.

"Is this where you ask me how Grace is?" she asked. Tony cleared his throat, surprised at having been found out so immediately.

"Hmmm," he murmured. "You are good."

"I'm not telling you anything," Natasha replied, rearranging the files in her arms. Tony sighed. He was getting absolutely nowhere with us. On top of Pepper's refusal and now Natasha's refusal, SHIELD was bound to find out that he'd breached the perimeter and had left the house.

"Give me something to go on, please?" he asked. Natasha glared at him with that Agent Romanoff look only she could muster.

"If you'd followed protocol, she wouldn't have gotten fed up with you," she said harshly. "You're just lucky I didn't say anything to Fury about the relationship you two were having. Do you understand how much shit she would be in if Fury were to find out? I had to tell him about the kiss because that's something I physically saw. Now I know that there was more going on with you and Grace, but I never saw it so I can't say anything, and you're lucky I chose to keep my suspicions to myself."

"Martyrdom doesn't flatter you very well," Tony answered blandly. "Wait, I'm sorry. Hey, look. This whole desperation thing is kind of new to me, and I don't really like it. Please, I'd like to at least talk to her. I realized something that I need her to know."

Natasha continued glaring at him. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Can you actually speak or something? I feel like you're a goddamn statue or something," he quipped.

She slammed the files down on the desk, opened one of Pepper's drawers, and pulled out a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Quickly, she scribbled something down before handing the folded paper to Tony with a look that made Tony's soul shrivel a little bit.

"I never did this," she said. As she walked by him, she muttered something that was unrecognizable to Tony. He frowned in confusion, examining her as she passed him.

"Which means? Wait. What? What did you say?" he asked, swiveling his chair to follow her.

"It means you can either drive yourself home, or I can have you collected," she snapped, slamming the door behind. Tony heaved a breath through his nose in resignation before unfolding the piece of paper in his hand. It was an address. As Tony stood up to leave, he noticed the Expo model in the corner with the rest of his things.

The video that his dad had made for him crossed his mind. He walked towards the model and pulled the sheet off of it. He furrowed his brow as he studied it. Then it hit him.

* * *

An hour later, Tony was strolling through the front doors of SHIELD headquarters with purple flowers in his hand, having had Jarvis hack into the systems and let him in. A front desk was sitting in the middle of the lobby; it created the atmosphere that the building he was in was more like an ultramodern ritzy hotel instead of a super secret government agency. The bright white of the halls made Tony wince; God, SHIELD liked their white and black theme.

Someone was sitting at the desk, and the person looked up. Amber eyes met his, and he felt his mouth go dry.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Grace said loud enough for him to hear as he walked up to her. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he didn't make eye contact with her. He looked around as though he were someone in need of finding a department at SHIELD because he had an appointment to keep.

"Excuse me, but I need some help, and I was wondering if you could help me," Tony said nonchalantly.

"What are you doing?" Grace asked. He was dressed in a button down shirt and jeans. She purposely avoided looking at his button down because she knew he knew she thought he looked good in them. His look was simple, very different from how he normally dressed, but he looked great. She swallowed hard and kept her gaze on him.

"I'm getting help. This is an information desk, isn't it?" he asked, looking confused and finally making eye contact with her. His eyes showed no recognition, and Grace found herself second guessing what was going on. For a good five seconds, she experienced an existential crisis before determining that she was, indeed, there, and Tony Stark was, indeed, standing in front of her, and she did, indeed, have history with the man who was at her desk leaning on it.

"No, it's not," she said slowly. He frowned.

"This isn't an information desk?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "This is the security desk."

"Hmmm. Funny, considering that I hacked into SHIELD's security system and was able to get inside. So since I've kind of taken that job from you, I could use some directions," he said. Grace wasn't at all surprised that he'd hacked the security system. Apparently, he did it a lot from what she'd read in the files Fury had given her to prepare her for living with him. Her chest constricted as she remembered how smart he was.

"Um, ok….." she said confused. "What do you need directions for?"

"On how to apologize," he answered matter-of-factly.

"Excuse me?" she asked, her confusion only deepening.

"Yeah, I guess that's a bit vague. Uh, you see, there's this woman I have some strong feelings for, but I pissed her off, and she left, and I really wanted her to take me back, but I realized that she doesn't like to be trapped down, you know? I always noticed how she couldn't stand being held down, and I realized that by trying to get her to take me back, I'd really be fucking things up for her, and I'd be holding her down when she just needs to be where she feels she can be free. Does this make sense? I don't think it's making sense. Anyway, I just want to tell her that I'm sorry for everything, and I'm sorry for trying to trap her down, and I'm sorry for hurting her, but I don't exactly know how to do it," Tony said. He'd started out his speech hurtling 90 miles an hour, but he'd slowed down towards the end of it, losing speed. He suddenly felt that tightness in his chest that he did whenever he knew that he was fucking things up with Grace.

Grace was quiet, studying his face as he looked down at her.

"Oh. These are for you. The woman I was talking about was you, by the way," he said lamely. He held the flowers out for her, and she slowly took them.

"Purple's my favorite color," she said.

"I know," Tony answered. She glanced sharply at him.

"How?" she asked.

"I kind of pick up on things," he replied vaguely. She held her stare on him. "Ok, fine, I had Jarvis pull up all of his information on you again. You know, now that I think about it, it makes sense. You do wear a lot of purple."

"Are you stalking me?" Grace asked suddenly. Tony's eyes widened.

"No! What? No. I'm not stalking you." He mentally flipped Jarvis off because he knew that the artificial intelligence would be gloating at having been right about how his _research tendencies_—and that's what they were: research tendencies—had come across as stalkerish.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" she repeated.

"I'm doing exactly what I said I was doing," he answered bluntly.

"You're on house arrest," she pointed out. Tony considered this.

"Technically, I'm not because I don't have an ankle bracelet," he finally answered.

"Tony," Grace said slowly, as if she were reasoning with a child. Tony interrupted her before she could say anything else.

"Grace, do you know what I have in my car right now?" he asked. Grace frowned at him. Why was he talking about a car at a time like this? She folded her arms across her chest as she leaned back in her chair. He didn't seem to be acting any stranger than normal, but the random questions didn't exactly get old.

"Tony, why would I know what you have in your car?" she asked.

"Ok, you don't know what I have in my car. I have the Expo model in my car. The Expo model that my dad made way back when, and I think that there's something that can do me some good," he said.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, feeling a headache coming on.

"I'm getting to that," he answered impatiently. "Just when I was looking at it at Stark Industries, I noticed that it kind of resembles an atom."

"I know," Grace answered quickly. Too quickly. Tony paused and stared at her, his deep brown eyes filled with genuine confusion.

"What?" he asked. Grace took in a breath, knowing that it was too late to take back the words. She hadn't been thinking. God, what was she doing? What was she doing sitting there acting like she didn't love him? What was she doing, about to admit something that would make him hate her?

"I know that the Expo model resembles an atom. It's the atom of an undiscovered element," she said slowly. "SHIELD has known about it for years."

"So basically you're saying that you knew about it, and you didn't tell me that maybe it was the key to something that could save me? Grace, you saw me slaving my ass off in my lab every fucking day while the palladium invaded my bloodstream," Tony snapped. Grace winced, feeling his words slap her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Orders."

"Orders," Tony repeated.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you. Fury wanted you to figure it out on your own, but then you got too sick, and then the whole party happened, and he realized that you were running out of time, so he gave you a boost on it," she said quietly.

"You knew the whole time," he mumbled to himself.

"Tony, I don't know if it can save you or not," she said. "But I did know it existed."

"Why are you telling me this now?" he demanded.

"Why didn't you tell me you were as bad off as you were?" Grace retorted. Tony's mouth set into a hard line.

"Are you really turning this back on me?" he asked. Grace nodded.

"It's a fair question. Not much different," she said. Tony angrily ran a hand through his hair.

"I didn't tell you that I had gotten as sick as I had because I love you," he said intensely but quietly. Grace stopped breathing. His words melted into her ears like mercury into someone's palm. She stared at him with wide eyes.

"Did you just—"

"Yeah, I said it," Tony answered, feeling his anger melt away.

"You—"

"Yes. Grace, I love you. It's a shitty excuse, but it's true. Do you think I enjoyed the fact that you were watching me die? I mean, I know I'm a handsome devil, but I'd prefer to be a living handsome devil being watched by you than a dying handsome devil being watched by you." He read Grace's blank expression, and he let out a groan of frustration. "I'm really not on my game today."

"Say it again," Grace said suddenly.

"I'm really not on my—"

"Not that, genius. The thing before that."

"I'm a handsome—"

"Ok, now you're being a shit." A smile drizzled onto Grace's face, and Tony found himself smiling again.

"I love you," he said. The words felt foreign in his mouth, but they felt as though they belonged there. A small smile had fully appeared in Grace's eyes, but so were tears, and soon she was crying. Panic filled Tony, and he ran his hand through his hair again, though this time in not knowing what to do. He had never seen Grace cry. She hadn't cried at his party. She hadn't cried when she'd left him. He'd never seen her cry, and here she was in front of him crying.

Her tears affected him in a strange way, a way that he hadn't been expecting. His chest ached painfully with the need to take her to him. Her pain made him feel pain. Before he could stop himself, he walked behind the desk and knelt down in front of her. He looked up at her, the palm of his hand grazing her cheek.

"Don't cry," he said. "Why are you crying? I thought women cried when they were upset. Oh, God, I've got it all wrong."

Grace laughed.

"No," she said through her tears but with a smile on her face. "I'm crying because this is the last thing I was expecting."

"Surprise?" Tony said tentatively, and she laughed again.

"Mr. Stark, you better have a real good explanation as to why you're on your knees in front of your crying former babysitter," a voice boomed. Grace froze. Fury. Tony gently squeezed her knee as he stood up.

"That's what I thought," Fury mumbled. "In my office. The both of you. Now."

Fury stalked down the hall. Grace shakily stood up.

"We're fucked," she mumbled. Tony pulled her head against his chest and quickly kissed her hair. The familiar scent of her shampoo greeted him, and he smiled against it.

"I've got this," Tony said.

"We'll see," Grace answered, mentally preparing herself for the scalding that was going to happen. She gestured to Tony with her head. "Let's go."

"I've got this," Tony repeated. "I've got your back."

And a warmth filled Grace's heart because she knew that he'd never spoken a more genuine sentence than perhaps his declaration of love earlier. He had her back. He loved her, and he was going to make sure that she was ok. And she would be. She would be ok.


	22. Hawkeye

**The usual shoutouts to xxLiveLoveReadxx, hockeygurl39, akt15, Uruvia, and MsRose91! Thank y'all for continuing to review!**

**I'm thinking that the next chapter will be the last one. However, do not fret! Grace and Tony's story will continue in my Captain America/OC ****fic. The story will be called Healing Touch, and it will be about Emma Carroll, a young nurse who is assigned to Steve as he recuperates in the hospital. That fic will be much shorter than this one because I'm really excited to get moving on the Avengers sequel, and that can't happen until my Captain America one is done. Grace and Tony will be main characters in Healing Touch, and it'll go into more of Tony's and Grace's backgrounds, particularly dealing with Steve so you'll learn more about Grace's dad's expeditions and Tony's childhood (as according to me!). I'm not sure if I'm going to post it in the Captain America category or the Avengers. Probably Avengers, let me know what y'all think. **

**Thank you guys so much for reading this and supporting me all the way. Y'all are awesome! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 22

"You have 60 seconds to explain what the fuck just happened out there," Fury snapped at the two people in front of him. Tony had a flashback of high school where he had heard a variant of the demand that Fury had just placed in front of him, and he smiled. Fury caught the billionaire's grin.

"You can go first, Mr. Stark, seeing how you find this whole affair amusing," he said. Tony felt Grace's body tense next to him; he could feel her amber eyes resting on him, the expression in them calm and collected, but he knew that inside she was freaking out. She was hoping that he wouldn't say anything to fuck them over. A stream of curse words ran through her head. Agent Grace Marks had never fucked up at all throughout her years at SHIELD. She'd always been a model agent, but in the past week she'd gotten into more shit than she ever had.

"I don't find this amusing," Tony answered, bringing Grace back to Earth.

"Are you sure, Mr. Stark?" Fury asked, his voice a deathly low tone. Tony nodded and kept his firm eye contact with Fury. Fury directed his one-eyed gaze back to Grace, and she imagined herself as a cartoon character who made an overly dramatic gulp when the character realized it was in deep shit. Her heart thudded hard against her rib cage as if it were trying to escape between the gaps of her ribs. Her vocal cords didn't seem to be working, so she cleared her throat.

"It wasn't what it looks like," she said tightly. "Mr. Stark knew that I was upset over the incident of the party, and he came to apologize again."

"I brought flowers," Tony piped up. Fury ignored the genius and kept glaring at Grace.

"Agent Marks, I do not like to be fooled, and I know when someone is trying to fool me. You and I both know that Tony Stark doesn't just waltz into a high security building and get on his knees in front of just anyone. Do you think I'm stupid, Agent Marks?" he demanded. Grace shook her head.

"I don't think you're stupid, sir," she said.

"Do _you _think I'm stupid?" Fury demanded of Tony. Tony paused, narrowing his eyes as if he were assessing something difficult in front of him. He pursed his lips slightly and tilted his head to the side.

"No, I don't think so," he replied. Fury narrowed his eye at Tony in distaste before turning back to deal with Grace.

"You have 30 seconds to tell me the truth," he said. Grace's throat closed up in panic. There was no way that she could admit that she'd grown to love Tony Stark and had sex with him. She would lose her job, and then she'd have nowhere. It had been a very long time since Grace had felt truly desperate, but now the desperation settled into her bones as if it had never left.

"It's my fault," Tony said suddenly. Grace's head whipped to the side. Her heart constricted again. What was he doing? He wouldn't look at her, instead opting to look at Fury. His brown eyes weren't full of amusement any longer; he was serious and ready to get down to business. Warmth spread through Grace's blood as she looked at him. Even though she'd seen him 24/7 for the past week, she still felt a sudden rush whenever she took the sight of him in.

"It's my fault," Tony repeated. "She was very professional and focused on her job, but I distracted her because I was attracted to her." His words were simply put, and Grace couldn't help but acknowledge that there was so much more to the story than what he had just said; there was so much more depth to everything that they had shared together. She'd let him in on the secret of her dad, for Christ's sake. Granted, he'd figured it out on his own, but she hadn't denied it.

"What do you mean 'distracted'?" Fury asked.

"Uhhh, I guess you could say I distracted her by falling in love with her," Tony replied matter-of-factly. Grace's eyes widened, showing the first signs of any emotion that she'd shown since entering Fury's office. Her mouth dropped open in pure shock, as she stared at Tony. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to punch him or kiss him.

"Mr. Stark, I'm wondering if my ears need checking, or if you said what I think you just said," Fury spat out. Tony sighed as if he were tired and bored of explaining something that was so obvious. Grace imagined that that was how he looked whenever he had to explain his tech to anyone who didn't get it. If people couldn't keep up with Tony Stark, Tony got annoyed easily, and that was the expression that settled on his face at that moment.

"I thought I was pretty clear the first time I said it," he said bluntly. "I fell in love with her. She was still professional and did her job, though. Never let me get away with anything, unfortunately."

"Agent Marks," Fury said slowly, "please tell me something that contradicts Stark's statement."

Grace gulped as she felt heat flame into her face. She could feel Tony's eyes on her, but she refused to look at him. Sweat was on her lower back, causing her uniform to stick to her. God, she hated when that happened; it always happened when she was nervous, and she was nervous as Fury shot daggers at her with his eyes. Every inch of her body screamed as she fought the urge to uncomfortably shift.

"No, sir, Mr. Stark is unfortunately correct," she replied evenly, her voice not betraying the discomfort and panic that she felt. Fury wiped a hand over his face, and he was silent. She chose that time to peek at Tony. He was looking back at her with a small smile on his face, and he winked at her. Despite the tense conditions and the looming possibility that she was about to lose her job, she returned a tiny smile. She couldn't _not _smile when Tony Stark was, particularly right after he'd said that he was in love with her.

"Agent Marks, my surprise is unfathomable. You've been with SHIELD for how many fucking years, and you act like men don't exist, and you act like the most perfect motherfucking agent, and now you go to the Stark Mansion for a week, and you're in love. I don't get it, Marks. Right now, I'm in between a rock and a hard place," Fury finally said. "I'm between a rock and a hard place because every single cell in my brain is screaming at me to put you on some kind of restriction or, even worse, to strip you of your position. However, it is in your favor that you're far too valuable to the Avengers Initiative for me to replace you. Do you understand?"

"I'm not sure that I do, sir," Grace answered slowly, a frown creeping onto her face. Fury sighed angrily.

"The only thing keeping me from kicking your ass right now is the fact that I need you on the team," he paused, "and the fact that you could probably kill me the minute I attacked you."

"Avengers Initiative?" Tony interrupted, frowning as well. He turned to Grace with a quizzical look on his face. Grace pressed her lips firmly together in apprehension and turned to look at Fury. If Fury had been frustrated and angry before, it was nothing compared to the look of frustration and anger on his face now. He angrily sighed again.

"You don't need to know about it," he said irritatedly.

"I think I do if my girl is going to be a part of it," Tony replied nonchalantly. Fury lifted his eyebrows in surprise.

"Your girl? Excuse me?" he said. Grace wanted to bang her head against the wall.

"Tony," she said quietly.

"We might as well be honest," Tony answered with a shrug, brushing off everything that had happened. Fury ran a hand over his bald head in a way that reminded Grace of how Tony ran his fingers through his hair whenever he was tired or thinking hard. What an interesting difference, she thought, considering that Fury had no hair.

"You weren't supposed to know anything about the Avengers Initiative, but since you thought it was an opportune moment to fall in love, you just so happened to get lucky. I'm not discussing it with you, and neither is Agent Marks. Now is not that time," Fury snapped. "Get out of my office. I have to think about what I'm going to do with you, and if I have to look at either of your mugs for one more second, I'm going to quit my job and leave it to someone who has more patience for this shit."

Grace didn't have to be told twice. She quickly nodded to Fury, and then she hurried out of the office as fast as she could. As soon as she and Tony were outside, she slowed her pace and looked up at the man next to her. He was looking at her with a grin on his face, and she frowned at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Things are starting to look up," he said.

"Tony—" she started.

"Hey, I know what you're going to say, but let's save that talk, ok? I need to go and see what I can figure out the Expo model. Besides, it'll give me another excuse to see you," he said, slowing to a stop. He reached out and grabbed her wrist gently, holding it lightly in his hand. She let him hold onto her, and she nodded.

"Ok," she said. He leaned down and kissed her sweetly. She felt the tension leak out of her body as she pushed forward into his kiss. One arm slipped around her waist, and his other hand placed itself on her wrist, pulling her in closer to him. When they broke the kiss, she rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes. She was with Tony again. He was there with her, and his skin was against hers. She breathed in the smell of him, reveling in the familiarity of it. She opened her eyes and looked into his.

"I'm still mad at you," she whispered.

"I'm going to fix everything," he whispered back. "I promise, ok?"

"Ok."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

A full 24 hours had passed since Tony had marched into Headquarters with purple flowers, and Grace had spoken to him once briefly. She wasn't mad; she knew that he was hard at work. He'd made progress on the Expo model, discovering that the element his father had created into the model was the element that would save him. He had called her as soon as he'd discovered it to share the news, excitedly shouting into her ear that he wasn't going to die just yet.

Grace had held her phone to her ear as she listened to him loudly explain how Howard had set up the whole thing for him. Everything had gone over her head, but relief had injected itself into her bloodstream as soon as she heard that he would be alive for now. The last time she'd talked to him, earlier that morning, he'd been starting to work on synthesizing the element.

Grace had gotten off of desk duty at 7:30 P.M., and she went to the gym to do some training. She hadn't done any physical training in about a week, and her muscles were already feeling it. It amazed her how she could notice whenever she wasn't on top of her game; it came from being a SHIELD agent. Natasha was the same exact way. She was probably dying at the Stark Mansion without being able to train as wholeheartedly as she could at SHIELD.

Grace wished that Natasha were there to spar with her. No other agents liked to spar with Grace because they were all afraid that Grace would lose it and start genuinely attacking them. She didn't blame them, in all honesty. In a way, she was kind of like Bruce Banner aka the Hulk. When she was a normal person, she was fine and a decent person to be around. However, when she went into survival mode, there was no telling what she'd do in order to ensure that she stayed alive.

She passed by one of the arrow training rooms when she saw something that caught her eye. Clint. She frowned as she watched him shooting, hitting each of his targets perfectly. He was supposed to be on a mission, not due back until the end of the month, but here he was. Silently, she opened the door to the room and slipped in, watching him shoot. She was always fascinated by his abilities. She couldn't shoot a bow and arrow worth a damn unless she was in survival mode, and watching Clint was like watching poetry in motion. She cleared her throat, causing the archer to turn and face her. A smile spread across his wide face.

"Agent Grace Marks," he said cheerfully. "Still in rehab to recover from all the damage that Stark did?" His voice was joking, and she laughed.

"I guess so," she replied. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't done with your mission until later this month."

Clint shrugged.

"Completed it early," he said. "Things were getting real sticky, and people were starting to catch on, so I got the ok to end it early."

"Makes sense. How long have you been back?"

"Only a day or so. I'm going to surprise Nat when she gets back because she isn't expecting me either." A bright smile lit up Clint's face as he talked about Natasha. The two agents weren't into the love thing, but when it came to each other, no matter how much they'd deny it, it was clear that they loved each other fiercely. Grace had never seen the depth of the trust they had for each other. They were best friends who just happened to be in love, and Clint's feelings were plain to see as he spoke about Natasha. Grace wondered if she would look like that if she were to speak about Tony.

"She should be wrapping up shortly. Stark just discovered the cure to his poisoning, and she'll be finished with her assessment for the Avengers Initiative any day now," she replied.

"Think he'll make it in?" Clint asked. Grace shrugged, knowing that her face betrayed nothing of what she was really thinking. That was one of her favorite things about her survival skills: she always hid what she was thinking so that her enemies could never guess. Clint could never guess how she truly felt about Tony if she kept her face that easy blankness that she always did.

"Don't know," she answered honestly. "From everything I've read about him he's impressive as hell, but he's a piece of work."

"Everything I've heard says the same thing," Clint replied with a wry grin. "He better keep his hands off her, though. I'll say that much."

"Oh, I don't think we'll have to worry about that," Grace said nonchalantly. "He's been pretty stressed with trying to find the cure for his poisoning. Now that he's found it, he's trying to synthesize it so I think women will be the last thing on his mind."

"You're right," the archer said and gulped down some water from his usual black thermos he always brought whenever he trained. "I can't imagine dying from palladium poisoning. Holy shit, that's got to be awful."

"I can't imagine dying," Grace answered softly. Clint studied her for a moment, coming up with no reading on her. She was always so closed off, had been since the first day that she'd arrived at SHIELD. At first, it was something to get used to. She had those strange eyes, so her eye color combined with her blank look was always disconcerting. She looked like she was more of a robot than a human sometimes.

A flicker of something flashed through her eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it'd come, and she smiled at him as he held his eyes on her.

"Self-preservation problems," she said shrugging her shoulders.

"Hashtag," Clint finished. Grace laughed and nodded.

"You've been on Twitter too much," she said. Clint shrugged, a guilty look coming across his face.

"You know, what can I—"

Clint was cut off by Grace's phone ringing. She quickly pulled it out and frowned, seeing Natasha's name flash across her screen.

"It's Natasha," she said, continuing to frown. She quickly answered it. "Natasha?"

"Grace, meet me at Hammer Industries. It's important. Tony's in danger, and the target is located at Hammer. Long story. I'll explain it to you once you get there, but you need to go ASAP," the redhead ordered, her voice clipped.

"On my way," Grace answered and hung up. She looked up at Clint. "I gotta go. I've been called in."

She barely registered Clint's response; she was out the door and running to one of the SHIELD cars parked in the garage. Tony was in danger. She had no idea what could be happening, but she knew that it must be something bad if Natasha were going to call her in. Grace never got called in. If Natasha had called her, Grace knew that shit was about to happen. As she loaded into one of the cars and took off speeding towards Hammer Industries, one word repeated itself over and over in her brain: Tony.


	23. Princess

**More shoutouts to the wonderful akt15, Ali, Madison Craine, and Guest! Your support means the world to me!**

**Ok, guys, I lied. One more chapter after this one, and then this will be done! I thought I'd be able to fit everything I wanted into this one to wrap it up, but this chapter wound up being longer than I'd expected. Again, one more chapter, and then you can follow Grace and Tony as they come to terms with Captain America's return in my Captain America/OC fanfic that will be titled Healing Touch. (I think I'm going to post it under the Avengers section since it isn't SOLELY Captain America). If you want to get notified when I post the first chapter (I'm hoping that I'll have that posted by Saturday evening), subscribe/favorite/follow me or whatever it is that they do here on !**

* * *

Chapter 23

Tony.

As Grace screeched the black car to a stop outside Hammer Industries, she could feel the adrenaline filling her veins. She recognized the car parked out front as one of Tony's cars, and she instantly knew that Natasha was inside. In a flash, she had jumped out of the car, feeling her nerves start to tingle, and she ran inside.

She didn't have to go very far. Fighting was all around her as soon as she stepped inside the building. To her left, Happy was wrestling and punching a man in black, and in the near distance, she caught a flash of Natasha's bright red hair as the agent took someone down. Grace felt a tiny twinge of confusion as she looked about her; this was something that Natasha could have handled with her eyes closed. Why had she called Grace in?

A man who appeared to be a security guard of some sort immediately saw Grace and began making his way towards her, a hand reaching for a weapon. That was enough of an attack for Grace to allow her nerves to heat to a boil. For a blinding second, it was as if she couldn't see, but then she blinked, and she knew that she was in survival mode.

The man didn't get within five feet of her before she had attacked him. Skillfully, Grace knocked his feet out from underneath him and smashed the back of his head against the hard floor, putting him out cold. A heat burned inside her skin as her senses took in everything around her. Her brain was hyperactive, overly aware of sounds, tiny details, placement of objects, smells. Everything.

She sensed someone coming up from behind her, and without glancing to see who it was, she put all of her strength into her elbow and whipped hard to her right. Her elbow collided with another guard's face, and she brought his forehead down hard against her knee.

Fighting was something that came naturally to Grace whenever she was in survival mode. Her blood boiled inside her veins as she quickly and efficiently took down guard after guard after guard. Natasha realized that she was there, but anything that the redhead said in greeting was lost to Grace as she calculated ways to take down the next target, to get out alive.

Grace was relatively under control because she knew that these were easy targets. She knew that she would make it out alive. In fact, she was almost enjoying herself. It was like sparring with Natasha back at SHIELD. If anything, destroying these guards felt like she were warming up for hardcore training that left her gasping for hair and sweat stinging her eyes. She didn't know how much time passed, but before she knew it, there were no more guards for her to target, and it was just her, Natasha, and Happy.

"I got him!" Happy yelled proudly and look up, a look of shock registering on his face as he took in the sight of destruction that Grace and Natasha had left behind them.

"Dammit," he muttered. "This always happens."

He ran down the hall to catch up with Grace and Natasha. Suddenly, it dawned on him that the woman in the black suit matching Natasha's was Greyson Marcussen. He frowned.

"Greyson?" he asked. Grace's head snapped towards him, and he was even more surprised to see dark eyes that were almost black instead of the usual strange amber eyes he'd been accustomed to for the past week.

"Holy shit," he gasped.

"Happy Hogan, meet Agent Grace Marks. I suggest you don't touch her," Natasha said in an every day tone.

"Why not?" Happy asked.

"She'll kill you."

"Oh."

"Grace, the target is Ivan Vanko, the man who tried to kill Tony in Monaco. If he's in this room, we take him down. I don't know what he might have in there," Natasha said. Grace showed recognition of Natasha's voice, but Natasha was familiar enough with the agent to know that Grace had heard everything she'd said and was listening.

Grace pulled out two guns, one for each hand, and Natasha mirrored her. They ran to the door of the room, Happy trailing behind them. Grace kicked down the door and aimed her guns, covering one half of the room while Natasha covered the other. Two bodies were hanging from the ceiling. Guards, Grace noted.

"He's gone," Natasha said. The curses were on the edge of her tongue. She lowered her guns and crossed to the center of the room where it appeared that something had been hooked up. Wires were overflowing from the hole in the ground. She beckoned Grace over.

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked. Grace nodded shortly, the sound of her own rushing blood still roaring through her ears.

"Chargers for a suit," she said. "What's going on?"

"Vanko didn't die in that prison explosion like everything thinks. It was staged. By Hammer. Hammer commissioned Vanko to build suits to outdo Tony when he showed them at the Expo, but Vanko's made drones, and they turned rogue tonight at the Expo when Pepper and I were there. From the looks of it, Vanko's been building his own suit here," Natasha briefly explained.

"Tony?" Grace asked. Natasha didn't need any other words to know what Grace was asking.

"Showed up at the Expo. Guess he caught on to it. Rhodey's in the War Machine suit, but apparently Vanko's compromised that as well because now it's trying to kill Tony," she said. Grace didn't say anything. Natasha could always tell whenever Grace was in survival mode because she didn't speak much. The agent's dark eyes and overly alert behavior verging on twitchy were other clues. However, Natasha could see past all of that to know that Grace was worried about Tony.

Grace suddenly burst past Natasha, pushing her aside to get to the computer. She began typing furiously on the keyboard. All kinds of diagrams came up, and Natasha watched in fascination as she began to realize what Grace was doing.

"What's she doing?" Happy asked.

"She's rebooting Rhodey's suit," Natasha answered. "Grace, I thought you didn't know how to do stuff like this."

"Observation," Grace shortly answered.

"What?" Happy asked. His eyebrows were wrinkled in confusion. Natasha glanced at him with an obvious look on her face.

"She's been watching Tony when he works. She picked up on it," she said by way of explanation. She watched impressed as Grace expertly navigated her way through the tech. A neon green SYSTEM ACCESS greeted the three people. Natasha grinned.

"Congratulations, Agent," she said, careful not to clap Grace on the shoulder or give the agent a high five.

"Reboot complete," Grace said in her same clipped tone. The rushing in her ears was starting to go down now, and she could feel her nerves cooling. She was still alert, and she was still aware of all the sounds and details around her, but she wasn't in immediate danger. She kept repeating the words over and over to herself: _I'm not in danger. I'm not in danger. I'm not in danger._

A screen came up, showing Tony's face inside the Iron Man suit.

"You got your best friend back," Natasha said cheerfully—or at least what was cheerful for Natasha—to the billionaire. Tony squinted as he realized that he was on screen and could see who was talking to him.

"Grace?" he asked. The pitch of his voice went up surprisingly high at the end as he realized that the woman staring back at him was the woman he had only just yesterday confessed his love for.

"Grace, is that you?" he asked incredulously. A corner of Grace's mouth twitched, and she nodded.

"Yes, it is," she said. "In one piece?"

"Uh, more or less. Are you? What are you doing there? Where are you?"

"Let's have that talk later," Grace replied wryly.

"Ok, fair enough, throwing my own words back at me," Tony said fairly. "Well, thank you very much, Agent Marks."

"Well done on your new chest piece," Natasha added. "I am reading significantly higher output, and your vitals all look promising."

"That doesn't mean you can go out and kill yourself," Grace interrupted.

"Yes, for the moment I'm not dying, and I'd like to keep it that way. Thank you," he answered smartly.

"What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you're dying?" Pepper's voice filled everyone's ears as her screen had somehow popped up. Grace shot Natasha a dirty look, but Natasha shrugged.

"I had to let her know everything was safe," she said defensively.

"Is that you? Uh, no, I'm not," Tony answered good-naturedly. "Not anymore."

"What's going on?" Pepper demanded.

"I was going to tell you," Tony replied in a tired tone. "I didn't want to alarm you."

"You were gonna tell me? You really _were _dying?" Pepper's voice rose to almost a shriek. "Grace, did you know about this?"

"Leave her out of it, Pep. I tried to tell you. You didn't let me," Tony retorted.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Pepper cried, and Grace wasn't sure whether that demand was towards her or Tony.

"I was gonna make you an omelet and tell you!" Tony droned in irritation.

"I told you that you should've said something," Grace interrupted.

"You too? You know I tried. Dammit, I worked hard on that omelet!"

"I told you to tell her, and you chose not to, Tony!"

"The omelet was supposed to speak for itself!"

"What, was it supposed to open its mouth and say, 'Hey, Pepper, Tony's dying, and he made me for you because he's too much of a pussy to tell you himself'?"

"Look here, Princess, I'm not a pussy, and omelet's don't have mouths!"

"If you're not a pussy then why would you need an omelet to speak for y—"

"Hey, hey, save it for the honeymoon," Natasha interrupted, feeling relatively glad that Grace was coming down off her survival high. "You got incoming, Tony. Looks like the fight's coming to you."

"Great," Tony replied cheerfully. "Pepper?"

"Are you ok now?" Pepper asked, sounding fairly calm now.

"I'm fine. Don't be mad," he said in a monotone. "I will formally apologize—"

"I _am _mad!" Pepper's voice rose back to a shout. "I'm mad at you, and I'm mad at Grace, and I'm mad at Natalie!"

"—when I'm not fending off a Hammeroid attack," Tony loudly inclined.

"Fine," Pepper said in resignation.

"We could've been in Venice," he said smugly.

"Oh, please," Pepper said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, Grace?" Tony said, his eyes finding the camera. He smiled as he saw her face, and it warmed Grace's heart to see how he seemed to light up. He was fighting, and he still looked happy to see her.

"Yeah, Tony?" she replied.

"I love you, ok?" he said. She smiled back, the force of her smile splitting her face.

"I love you. Ok," she returned. "Go kick Hammeroid ass. You have to come back to me alive."

"You got it, Princess." He winked at her and disconnected his screen.

"Wait, what was that?" Pepper asked. "First, you know about him dying and don't say anything, and now the two of you are back on speaking terms and even saying I love you? No one thinks to tell me anything. Ever. _Ever_."

"We'll explain once we get back," Natasha said.

"Yeah, you _definitely _have a lot of explaining to do, Natalie Rushman," Pepper retorted crossly and disconnected her screen as well.

"It looks like you ladies are in trouble with Pep," Happy said with a smirk. Natasha glared at him.

"Come on, let's get back to the Expo," she said. "There might be shit we have to do there. We need to get Pepper out of there anyway. You still hyped, Grace?"

A slow, knowing grin spread across Grace's face.

"Yeah, I'm still hyped."

* * *

The Expo was basically evacuated by the time they arrived back. The few stragglers were on their way out the exit, and there was nothing that the three could do except wait for Tony. Grace returned back to the car with Pepper, depositing the angry blonde in the backseat.

"He's ok. He'll take care of it," Natasha said, her own way of comforting Grace. She of all people knew how it felt to be worried about someone and not be able to do anything to help him. Grace's face remained blank, but she nodded.

"I know," she said. "Hey, I'm going to go check the entrance there and make sure that everyone's out all right. I'll be back."

Grace climbed out of the car and back up to the top of the steps where she'd retrieved Pepper. The blonde had been furious with Grace, and Grace couldn't blame her. Pepper had been extremely duped by basically everyone around her except for Happy and Rhodey. She'd get over it, though, and she'd be ok in a few hours, Grace knew.

Grace scanned the sky, looking for any sign of the billionaire in his infamous Iron Man suit. There was no sign of him, and she studied the areas around the front of the building, making sure that everyone was gone. Suddenly, one of the destroyed drones near her starting flashing red and beeping. Grace frowned. She slowly started making her way toward it when the realization of what was about to happen dawned on her. White-hot fire burned through her veins as she retreated back into survival mode, quickly backing up from the ready to explode drone.

"GET OUT! DRIVE!" she screamed to Happy, motioning with her hands for the man to move. An arm wrapped around her waist out of nowhere, and before she could do anything, she was catapulting through the sky. Her blood was burning her, and she began tearing at the arms around her.

"Grace, stop! Jesus Christ, it's me!" Tony's voice was in her ear, and within seconds, they were on a rooftop. As quickly as Tony had grabbed her, he had let go of her. She saw sparks flying from his helmet, and she could hear him grunting as his helmet was shocking him. Her muscles were tensed up in fight-or-flight as he removed his helmet. Without any warning, she advanced several steps and punched him hard in the nose.

"Fuck! What the fuck!" Tony shouted. He grabbed his nose with his hands, stars flying around in his head from the pain. He moved one of his hands away and found blood on it.

"What the fuck, Grace!" he shouted again. He took in the sight of her standing in front of him in her SHIELD uniform, looking nonplussed by slightly jumpy. Her eyes were that same dark, almost black color that they were when he had startled her that one day in her room and then again in Monaco when she'd jumped in and kicked Vanko's ass.

"You're welcome," she replied. Tony tried to move his nose but found that he was still in too much pain to move it.

"What was that for?" he demanded. "I didn't even attack you!"

"Reflexes," she said, her voice sounding slightly apologetic. "Snatching me with no warning when I'm already on edge is kind of like an attack."

"Is your fist made out of iron?" he groaned as he rubbed his nose gingerly. Grace looked at her open hand and considered this.

"It might be," she said, genuinely sounding somewhat convinced, surprised, and impressed with herself all wrapped up into one.

"Usually, when a guy saves his girlfriend by being blown up by drones, he gets thanked with kisses and sexual favors," Tony quipped. Grace's mouth twitched into a hint of a smile.

"I wouldn't have died," she replied.

"Are you kidding me?" Tony demanded. She shrugged.

"I probably wouldn't have," she said. "Homemade Super Soldier Serum can come in handy, I guess. Or being a SHIELD agent."

Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"My girlfriend is indestructible," he muttered.

"Your what?" Grace asked, tilting her head to the side. He shot her an annoyed look.

"My girlfriend," he repeated. "What, you have a problem with that or something?"

"What about the press?" she asked. "They know me as Greyson Marcussen, and how are we going to explain that? That's going to look really bad and really sketchy, and it'll uncover so much about SHIELD. Oh, fuck, I forgot about SHIELD. How are they going—"

Tony quickly advanced towards her and kissed her, grabbing her around the waist. She instantly shut up, enjoying the feeling of his soft mouth pressed against hers. Tension drained from her shoulders, and she relaxed in his hold as she always did whenever he kissed her. It was slightly strange to be pressed against his armor, but hey, she wasn't complaining. He pulled back.

"Girlfriend," he said simply. "Weird." His voice was almost questioning as he studied her face to find a reaction.

"No, it's not weird," Grace breathed, attempting to find her breath from the kiss. Her nerves had cooled tremendously, and she no longer felt any kind up hyperactivity coming from her senses.

"It's ok, right?" Tony asked, checking in with her.

"Yeah," she said with a smile.

"Debrief me on that again," he said and leaned in for another kiss.

"_I _think it was weird," a voice said. Tony and Grace jumped. Grace's nerves flashed hot again until she looked into the darkness and saw Rhodey perched nearby. The man was in the War Machine suit, and he looked mildly annoyed but also amused by everything that had been happening.

"You guys look like two seals fighting over a grape," he said blandly.

"I'm not an engineer," Grace blurted. "I'm not his assistant anymore."

"She's not involved with me professionally so we're not—"

"You don't have to do that. I heard the whole thing," Rhodey replied.

"You should get lost," Tony said, changing the subject.

"I was here first. Get a roof," Rhodey answered, a serious expression on his face, but his eyes were smiling.

"I thought you were out of one-liners," Tony said with a laugh.

"That was the last one," Rhodey said apologetically.

"You kicked ass back there, by the way."

"Thank you. You, too." Rhodey paused. "Listen, my car got taken out in the explosion, so I'm gonna have to hang onto your suit for a minute, ok?"

"Not ok. Not ok with that," Tony answered as he wrapped his arm around Grace's waist, fitting her in snugly beside him.

"It wasn't a question," Rhodey answered. His mask flipped down, and then he was gone, a speck in the sky. Grace looked up at Tony, and he looked down at her.

"We've come a long way, huh?" he said. She nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah, we have."

* * *

The sex that night was slow. For the first time, Grace and Tony took their time exploring each other's bodies. They were slow undressing each other, carefully removing clothing and kissing the exposed skin as each piece was easily discarded onto the floor. Tony was determined to memorize every inch of Grace's body, and he mapped it out with his lips, taking note of how soft and warm her skin was against his mouth. Her thighs were strong beneath his hands, and he marveled at the sinewy feel of them as he spread them open. Her back arched as she felt the gentle brushes of his beard against the skin of her inner thighs. His tongue probed at her in her most sensitive areas, and she cried out his name.

When he slid inside the wet heat of her, he was slow. There was no need to rush, and he smiled against her neck as he moved inside her. Her arms were wrapped loosely around him, her head tilted back with her eyes closed as she relished the feeling of his hips moving into her.

"Tony," she breathed. His mouth found her neck, and she heard him whisper her own name back.

Grace's orgasm triggered Tony's. When he reached his climax, his eyes clouded over with pleasure, and he cried out her name, the sound of it muffled in the space between her neck and her shoulder. She grasped him to her as they each collected themselves, allowing their breathing and heart rates to return to normal. His eyes were squeezed shut as the intensity of his release continued to roll through his body. He allowed his hips to lightly continue moving as he emptied all of himself into her. Raggedly, he pulled himself together and pulled out of Grace's body.

The exhaustion dragged both of them to the edge of sleep. Grace eased her way to the bathroom and then back into bed after having pulled on her underwear and her usual tank top that she slept in. Tony had barely managed to slip on his boxer briefs and t-shirt when she fell into his arms. The weight of everything that had happened that day, hell, everything that had happened _that week_ crashed down on him.

As he held her, gently stroking her hair as she fell asleep, he couldn't remember the last time he'd ever loved someone or something so deeply. And that was when he realized it. He never had.


	24. Avengers Initiative

**Here are my final shoutouts! Much love to Uruvia, akt15, xxLiveLoveReadxx, and Guest! So many thank yous go out to everyone who has read this and kept up with it since the beginning. Thank you for reading, following, favoriting, reviewing, etc. You all have made this whole experience wonderful.**

**Well, guys, this is it! The final chapter. However, like I said, don't be too sad because I'm starting immediately on my Captain America/OC fic titled Healing Touch. It'll be posted under the Avengers section in Movies. I'll probably have the first chapter up TONIGHT, but if not, it'll definitely be by tomorrow night. That is a promise. Grace and Tony will be continuing their story in that, and then I'll be writing the Avengers sequel whenever I finish Healing Touch.**

**Someone asked me if I'm planning on writing one for Iron Man 3. The answer is YES. I'm going to have a lot of fun playing around with that one because it was so Tony/Pepper oriented so I'll get a lot of liberty writing Grace in that.**

**Thank you again for all the amazing support I've received. Please keep checking in the Avengers section to see if I've posted, or you can Favorite and/or Follow me and get updates through there! Thank you again for being fantastic 3**

* * *

Chapter 24

When Grace woke up the next morning, it took her a minute to realize where she was. Then it dawned on her that she was in the Stark Mansion in Tony Stark's bed. She lifted her head and looked to her left, expecting to see the billionaire's dark head still sleeping, and she was surprised when she was greeted by the white of an empty pillow.

"Jarvis, where's Tony?" she asked.

"Good morning, Agent. It's nice to have you back. Mr. Stark is in the kitchen," Jarvis replied.

"Thanks, Jarvis. It's nice to be back. What's he doing in the kitchen?" she asked, her voice laced with confusion. The last place that she ever could've pictured Tony was the kitchen.

"It is difficult to tell what Mr. Stark is hoping to accomplish, but it appears that he is attempting to cook," Jarvis said. Grace released a groan and pushed the covers back to get up. She quickly shimmied into the pair of leggings that she'd worn the night before. It was funny how she had ended up there, she thought. It wasn't as if she'd planned to go home with Tony or anything. Without either of them discussing it, Tony had taken her to SHIELD headquarters so she could grab a quick shower and change, and then he'd taken her back to the Stark Mansion. Again, she surprised herself because it was so unlike her to do anything so rash like this. But it felt good. It felt right.

She walked the familiar halls until she was in the kitchen. Tony was wearing a hoodie from his MIT days and a pair of basketball shorts. She raised her eyebrows as she saw him. He looked nothing at all like the ultra fashionable, style conscientious billionaire that she'd grown accustomed to over the past week. She liked it, though. He looked young and comfortable, at home with himself. She took a moment just to watch him as he moved around the kitchen, pausing every so often with a frown on his face as he surveyed the ingredients in front of him. Music was playing, and Grace recognized AC/DC. He was moving his head to the beat, mixing some things together.

Finally, he looked up and saw her.

"Good morning, Agent Marks," he greeted cheerfully. "Come pop a squat."

"That's such an ugly word," Grace replied, wrinkling her nose as she moved towards the counter of the island. She sat down and leaned on it with her elbows.

"Squat?" Tony asked. She nodded.

"It's hideous," she said.

"Squat. Squat, squat, squat," Tony repeated playfully. Grace wrinkled her nose at him and covered her ears, garnishing a wink from Tony.

"What are you even doing?" she asked, pulling her hands away.

"I'm cooking," he answered in an "obviously" tone.

"Remember the last time you tried to cook?" she asked. He paused with a spatula in his hand.

"That was before I learned how," he said.

"You learned how to cook?" Grace asked incredulously.

"Well, no," Tony said slowly. "I mean, I kind of did?"

"Where did you learn?" Her voice rose higher in pitch the more confused she became. She swore that Tony looked a little embarrassed as he considered how to answer her question. He was quiet for a moment, flipping over whatever was in the pan on the stove.

"Paula Deen," he mumbled.

"What?" Grace demanded. He sighed loudly.

"I watched Paula Deen, ok? I'm making an omelet. Hopefully it's a good one," he said.

"Wait, are you dying?"

"What? No." Tony flipped the omelet out of the pan and onto a plate. He grabbed a fork and knife and brought it over to Grace. "Dig in, Princess."

"When did you watch Paula Deen?" she asked, regarding him. Tony thought for a second.

"Hmmm. I guess, three hours ago? Come on, eat it." He looked so hopeful and excited that Grace couldn't help it. She looked down at the omelet on her plate, and, well, it did actually appear to be somewhat appetizing. In all honesty, it looked good. She slowly cut into it, cheese oozing everywhere, and she caught a few bits of bacon floating around in the cheese, too.

"I got fancy this time," he said proudly. Grace squinted at the piece on her fork. It was now or never. She put the fork in her mouth and took a bite. The food was hot, but it was….good. It was delicious, actually.

"Holy shit," she murmured. "This is great."

"Really?" Tony's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Yeah, it is," she replied in awe. "Good job."

Tony pecked her on the cheek with a smug expression on his face. He'd been working on the damn thing for the longest time, and he was actually surprised that he'd come out successful.

"Do we really have to meet with Fury?" he whined.

"Yeah, we do. Come on. Let me finish this, and then we have to get going."

* * *

"What is all of this?" Tony asked, pointing around to all of the Stark tech surrounding him. He was sitting on the opposite side of the table from Grace in an abandoned warehouse looking at a screen showing a newsreel of a giant green guy running around and another screen of the SHIELD emblem.

"You'll find out when Director Fury gets here," Grace replied evenly. He surveyed her across from him. She really did amaze him; the woman sitting across from him was not the same woman who had sat at his kitchen counter eating a homemade omelet. She was professional and tied together in her black SHIELD suit and long hair pulled into a French braid.

"What's this?" he asked, pointing towards a file labeled **Avengers Initiative Preliminary Report**. He reached out to grab it, but Grace put her hand over it, holding it in place.

"Tony," she said sharply. He jerked his hand back as if he had touched something flaming hot.

"Avengers Initiative? This is what Fury was talking about when he had us go to his office. What is it?" he asked.

"I don't think I want you to know that," Fury said, appearing out of nowhere as he sat down smoothly next to Grace. "I'm not sure it pertains to you anymore."

Grace showed no emotion on her face at Fury's words. She hid the alarm bell ringing inside her head. What did Fury mean when he said that? Not needing Tony for the Avengers Initiative? That was basically what this whole thing had been about; Fury had wanted Tony to stay alive because he wanted Tony to be a part of the Avengers Initiative. All of these thoughts darted through her brain, but she kept her blank agent face in place.

"Now _this_, on the other hand, is Agent Romanoff's assessment of _you_. Read it," Fury said as if he were enjoying himself and slapped another file down in front of Tony. Tony frowned in mild confusion as he opened it tentatively, briefly glancing at Grace for reassurance.

"Uhhhh," Tony intoned as he scanned the report in front of him, his brown eyes moving rapidly over the paper, "'Personality overview. Mr. Stark displays compulsive behavior.'" He looked up. "In my own defense, that _was _last week."

He continued scanning the report. "'Prone to self-destructive tendencies.' I was _dying_. Grace can even vouch for me on that one. I was dying, wasn't I?"

Grace stared expressionless back at him without a response. He sighed in resignation and went back to the paper.

"I mean, please. And aren't we all?" he scoffed. "'Textbook…narcissism'?"

He looked back up at Fury and Grace only to be greeted back with looks that defied him to challenge that statement.

"Agreed," he said casually. "Okay, here it is. Uh…'Recruitment Assessment for Avengers Initiative. Iron Man? Yes.' I gotta think about it." He closed the file and gazed at Fury smugly. Fury kept his gaze on the billionaire.

"Read on," he said calmly.

"'Tony Stark not…'" his voice trailed off, "'_not_ recommended'? That doesn't make any sense. How can you approve _me_ but not approve me? I got a new ticker. I'm—I'm trying to do right, uh, by, uh, Grace, even though I know you don't want to hear about it since that's like, awkward and everything considering you're her boss, but I'm trying to do right by her. I'm in a stable-ish relationship, at least as stable as you can get with me."

Grace refrained from clearing her throat to get him to stop, but she widened her eyes at him as Fury walked around the table and sat on the edge of it, perching near Tony.

"Which leads us to believe at this juncture we'd only like to use you as a consultant," Fury said relatively gently, as if he were attempting to console the genius sitting in front of him. Tony stared back up at the man, taking a page from Grace's book and kept his face blank. He finally stood up and held out his hand to Fury, shaking it as Fury grasped his back.

"You can't afford me," he said almost apologetically. He turned around and started walking out. Grace abruptly stood up as if she were going to follow him, but she stopped. Fury glanced at her with a "Can you believe this guy?" look and continued to watch Tony walk.

"Then again," Tony said, turning around to face the two again, "I will waive my customary retainer in exchange for…a small favor. Rhodey and I are being honored in Washington, and we need a presenter."

Fury nodded in understanding. "I'll see what I can do."

He beckoned to Grace to leave, but before she turned, she gave Tony a questioning look. He grinned snarkily at her and shot her a wink. He always had something up his sleeve.

"Wait," he called out. Fury turned back. "How are we going to handle the press when it comes to Grace?"

"You're going public?" Fury asked in astonishment. Tony nodded.

"Yeah, we're going to be spending free time together. We might as well let them know the truth."

Fury paused.

"Are you sure, Stark?" he asked.

"Very," Tony replied immediately. Fury let out a long sigh.

"I'll be in contact."

* * *

And that was how Grace had found herself sitting at the awards ceremony in Washington D.C. watching Senator Stern pin—and then prick—her boyfriend as he received his medal. Tony caught her eye right as Stern turned away from him, and he winked.

The ceremony soon ended, and Grace made her way next to Tony. He wrapped his arm around her waist for the cameras, kissing her temple.

"Did I tell you that you look great in that dress?" he murmured in her ear. She grinned and smiled at the cameras.

"Yes, but you can always say it again," she replied quietly.

"You look great in that dress," he answered sincerely. She squeezed his waist with the hand that she had used to wrap around him in response.

"Now you're going to be all cocky because you've got that medal," she said.

"Hey, I'm a hero. What can I say? All in a day's work," he replied with a smirk.

"Miss Marks! Miss Marks! Now that you've retired from aeronautical engineering and gone back to your birth name, is it easier to blend in with your surroundings? Is the fame easier to deal with?" a reporter called out. Grace looked up at Tony, and she smiled as the sun caught in his hair. He was flashing a peace sign to another camera as he waited for her answer.

"No," she replied. "It never gets any easier to deal with, but it's definitely worth it."

She wasn't talking about the fame. She wasn't talking about it at all. She'd never been _famous_ per se; she'd been posing as a world renowned engineer. She didn't know what fame was in the slightest, but she knew she was going to get a taste of it now that she'd been announced as Tony Stark's girlfriend. Though she figured that after everything that she'd been through in her life, fame would be easy. Fame was something she could deal with.

No, she wasn't talking about fame.

She was talking about the man in the suit standing next to her.


End file.
